Welcome to the first New Moon Tarotscopes here at SAD Mag!

The New Moon in Virgo visits us after a month of eclipses. Four of the planets that went retrograde this summer—that is, appeared to move backwards through the signs—Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn are now moving forward once again, but slow-moving Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune are still in their retrograde phase. This makes it a good time to take advantage of the dark lunar energy to go inward, to seek deep transformation, to nurture your most secure bonds. It’s also a good time to celebrate the hard-won fruits of subversive action, and continue to sit in that space of cutting through illusion by putting dreams of a brighter future into practice. Be sure to read both your Sun and Rising signs below, and for extra emotional support, turn to your Moon and Venus placements.

ARIES
Four of Cups

What’s burning inside you is a desire for change and transformation. If you look carefully, you can see that so many things are different now than they were last month, different than they were at the beginning of the year. But it’s still not enough. I hate to break it to you, but it’s your ego and not your spirit that’s restless now: it’s needing to become the person you think you should be, rather than settling into accepting the person you are. You are the kid-sibling of the zodiac, you will always feel you need to prove yourself, to climb the chin link fence faster, to swing higher, to eat the most slices of watermelon. The only person who cares about you being the most or best is you. If you feel like you are not growing and becoming fast enough, the last thing I would recommend is to let transformation come you you; instead, redirect your energy inwards, halt all pursuit of achievement for the next week or so, take stock of how far you have already come, recalibrate.

TAURUS
Ten of Wands

This Virgo New Moon asks you to hang up all the clothes on the floor, all the books on the shelf. The summer of retrogrades and eclipses has been a wild ride for us all, but for you, lover of home and safe foundations, the instability was particularly stressful. Ritualizing reorganization and rescheduling will prevent all you have to do from becoming and insurmountable task. Review your intentions behind creating and keeping order, especially at home and in your calendar. There’s no need to rush to “getting back on track,” you are not meant to work like clockwork. Dishes in the sink and double-booked hangouts frazzle your nerves, and sorting out these small things is an act of self-support. Don’t try to look like you have everything together for others, find a system that works for your healing and comfort and stick to it.

GEMINI
Four of Wands

Needing others is such funny business these days in our little world of on-again-off-again and Insta stalking. The Gemini spirit is always reaching out to and looking for itself in others. This is the sign not only of swift communication––messenger to the Gods, Mercury––but of deep connection with and loyalty to another––the twin heroes, Castor and Pollux. When mortal Castor was on his deathbed after battle, demigod Pollux gave his brother half of his immortality. This card asks you to celebrate those relationships in your life you have fought for. Thought connection comes easy to you, don’t take this gift lightly; not everyone can slide into relationships as effortlessly as you, allow yourself to be a mirror for others and allow others to be a mirror for you. Take stock of your most life-giving relationships and see that the glory of those you love is your glory, too.

CANCER
Eight of Swords

Pain can be blinding or pain can cast a glowing light on the wounds. The Moon is your own heart in the sky, swinging between signs every two or three days, moving from light to dark in slivers over twenty-eight. On such a tide, it’s easy to get caught in a whirlpool of your own feelings and make the mistake of thinking that you are at the mercy of outside forces affecting you in ways you cannot control. You may dream of one day when everything is calm, when “this” is over. The secret is that you are in it, and you will always be in it, and that this is the majesty of your time on Earth and you should revel in every feeling you have, the light and the dark. Emotions, as you probably already know, don’t exist on a pendulum swing, they live on a scale of intensity, like feeling anxious at your own birthday party, like weeping after a good orgasm.

LEO
The Devil

There is a disconnect between your feelings and your actions, the way you move at home and the way you move through the world. It’s an understatement to say that there is a way you should behave in public, indeed, the way we behave in public is policed––sometimes with good reason, and other times, with the intention of control. It’s a delicate game knowing who to be, with whom and when, especially when being loved is at stake. You deserve to be loved because you are a human being, not because of your persona, you accomplishments, or your ability to appear chill and fun. When situations arise where you feel the impulse to be a certain kind of person, check in with yourself. Leo has the power to exude deep authenticity, but we all come to the table with baggage from society, from our childhoods, and fear that you will not be loved for who you truly are can be your motivation to build a shinier mask. If that mask has become your prison, even though it’s painful to take it off, doing so will be your greatest joy, your deepest freedom.

VIRGO
The World

The Wheel of the Year has turned around to your sign once again. It’s harvest season, it’s time to light the home fires, to put order to chaos. The New Moon is the time to review and to rest, to plan for the future from a place of wonder. This card arrives to remind you to both embrace the unknown and to look back and connect the dots of the past to see what small things came together to bring you to where you are now: what breakups lead to greater loves, what hopeless situations gave way to glory. A way to move forward is to look into the future with your heart, to see how you want to feel in the next year, rather than what you want to do. While we are not totally at the mercy of fate, there are some things you will never be able to predict or plan for, and accepting that you are uncomfortable with that truth is part of how you move through it. Don’t fight the fear of uncertainty, lean into it. This is being alive, this is being human.

LIBRA
The Lovers

Balance requires patience. In this life there is always a push and pull, a more and less, a too much and not enough. When you think in extremes, you loose sight of the whole experience. The Lovers is about balance in relationships with others, which are ultimately a mirror of your relationship to yourself. It’s important now to remember that you are filled with every aspect of human experience: loneliness and togetherness, exhaustion and elation, fear and bravery. It’s imperative that you integrate your shadow self––those parts of you that you are ashamed of. You can tell where your shadow is any time you pass judgement on yourself or others. Let that be a weathervane to show you were the hurt needs to be healed, where two become one inside of you. Doing this will help you see others more clearly, and, more importantly, will help you truly love yourself.

SCORPIO
Four of Pentacles

Perpetually private, the darkening season has you more protective of your inner life than you may be used to. It’s okay to play it close to the chest, especially if you’ve been skeptical about other’s intentions. For a time, you may need to put staunch boundaries into place, then scale back as you see fit on a relationship-to-relationship basis. Not everyone deserves what you have to give, especially if you’ve been offering financial resources or the gift of your physical presence, and these offerings haven’t been honoured. Be wary, however, of shutting yourself out from the love that surrounds you without pretence. You can’t get by in this life afraid that others will hurt you, because they will, and you will hurt them, too. Move with the intention of tenderness towards yourself first: choose only to engage with people who nourish your spirit.

SAGITTARIUS
Nine of Wands

The memory of battle, as we know, can be worse than the battle itself. It’s hard to put the weapons away when you’re afraid the enemy could be at the door again at any moment. This card is about what you’re stockpiling for the next hardship, real or imagined. You don’t want to be caught unawares again. There is a wisdom in this card, a wisdom in being prepared, but it’s also a reminder to take care of your wounds and to look for comfort, to build a foundation. The wounded should be laying down to rest, not put on sentry duty. It’s tempting to be proactive about failure, but the truth is that failure comes whether we prepare for it or not, and it’s just as disruptive and painful regardless of whether we’ve readied ourselves for it. You know the drill: to numb out some feelings is to numb them all. You’re here to sit around a bonfire, to hold a cold can of beer in your hand; to fall out of love, and right back into it.

CAPRICORN
Seven of Pentacles

It’s almost time to reap what you’ve sewn, you’re on the brink of it. And it can be so hard to wait those last long steps until you finally break through the trees and into the clearing of it. The harvest will be bountiful because you’ve been attentive to the things you wanted to come to fruition. Tending a garden is slow work, it’s quiet work. There are no trumpets when the first apple reddens, when the pumpkins are big enough to burst. But gardening within is hard work, it’s building intention, it’s developing deep compassion, it’s settling into vision. You must bear witness to your own transformative powers, the ways you dig up the soil of your psyche and till it until it’s fertile. When all you’ve worked for is ripe, you can pick it and preserve it and keep it all winter. When you’re enjoying the fruit of all this, remember that it came from you.

AQUARIUS
Seven of Wands

Your homeland will always be yourself, and though you have friends and family, you feel freest alone with your thoughts and your creative impulses. The world will always make demands on your time and your body, and it’s up to you to look out for that patch of grass within that no one else can tread on. Virgo’s season is always a call back home, and for you, that means a return to the self, to watching your most beloved movies, to eating exactly your favourite foods, to being utterly authentic in any situation. Authenticity is foremost about differentiating yourself and standing in the light of who you are. When faced with judgements, questions, or even new situations that give rise to social anxiety, return to that deep part of yourself that’s evergreen. Your spirit will always be there even when others are not.

PISCES
Two of Cups

Togetherness is medicine, you don’t have to face your sea monsters alone. Love is such a central part of your psyche, it’s your natural habitat. This New Moon in Virgo casts a glow over your partnerships, both romantic and creative. It asks you to deepen your intimacy with others, to favour one-on-one hangouts, to read or write or sing or cook in the same room as another person. This is about giving and receiving and allowing a sense of flow to enter your interactions. It’s not a time to surge forward, it’s a time to allow the current of companionship take you down the creek. Expectations are bound to induce performance anxiety. Those who are in your life are meant to be there, and those who are meant to come into it are hovering in the periphery, orbiting you until the time is just right. Trust the process, and don’t give in to insecurity. Whatever level of partnership you’re seeking is your birthright.