Red Tent Round Up #2: December New Moon in Sagittarius
Wise Words on: Assuring Spiritual Supply, Harmony in Chaos (The Art of Remedios Varos), The Naked Meditations of Claudia Wilde, Balancing Burnout & Risk, and some Ukrainian folk sounds of the soul.
The concept of the Red Tent is a revived Native American tradition where the community held space for women during menstruation, honouring their physical embodiment of the natural cycles and heightened intuitive capacity at this time.
As many women menstruate with the New Moon, this monthly round-up of material, relevant to the astrology, is intended to be both comforting and thought-provoking for all those embracing the slow, dark depths of this transformational period (pun absolutely intended).
This Red Tent Round-Up will be published monthly, just before the New Moon, with the Sabian Symbol for the degree of the New Moon provided for reflection. The rest is my redistribution of words and works from the Wise Women (and Men!) I am fortunate to have happened upon. Le grá, in love.
If you are short on time - I recommend skipping straight to Ukrainian folk band Dakha Brakha’s performance of Vesna at the end of this post - I PROMISE you will thank me.
This New Moon occurs at 20 degrees of Sagittarius, Tuesday (Mars-Day) 12th December 2023, 23:32 GMT.
Sagittarius Keywords: Abstraction, Impulse, Exploration, Enterprise, Idealism, Redemption, Rebellion
The Sabian Symbol (Dane Rudhyar & Elsie Wheeler) for 20 Sagittarius:
IN AN OLD-FASHIONED NORTHERN VILLAGE MEN CUT THE ICE OF A FROZEN POND FOR USE DURING THE SUMMER.
The foresighted use of natural resources to supply future needs… a reference to the relationship between man and nature. Man’s ingenuity and foresight make it possible for him to plan for the future in terms of his knowledge of the seasonal rhythm of cold and heat and, by implication, of even larger cycles of change. Quiet and relaxation may have to be sacrificed, and some hardships endured, in order that another type of problem, which may involve survival through proper feeding, may be met at some later time. It stresses the value of actively planning for future need, and of foresight based on the knowledge of cyclic processes. ASSURING SUPPLY
Sagittarius usually invokes imagery of the nonchalant Sunny optimism or gregarious Jupitarian temperament that is so often evident in those born under the influence of this sign, however, this transition point at 20 degrees of Sagittarius marks the passage of the Sun and Moon from the Decan of Jupiter to the Decan of Saturn.
Therefore, this Sagittarius season has a more serious, Saturnian flavour. In contrast to Scorpio season, where we journeyed within and engaged in the process of regeneration, this Sagittarius season is about meaningful and deliberate outward action - further emphasised by the presence of Mars with this New Moon.
The host of the New Moon, Jupiter, is still engaged in a retrograde stocktake in Taurus, inflating prices of the basics. The “bread and butter” of our lives, nourishment (food), warmth (fuel), our means of exchange (money/energy/time) are under some degree of restraint. How do we ensure supply?
Mercury is stationed to turn retrograde in Capricorn, trine Jupiter, inviting us to review our processes. How do we create and communicate more efficiency? What do we need to learn in order to achieve our goals?
Within Sagittarius is a tension between work and play, planning and abstracting, realism and idealism, gathering and gambling.
Amidst the chaos of these opposing forces, subject to the great cycles and seasons of life, we find ways to ensure the supply of the spiritual fire - whether that be the daily ritual of family life, a consistent spiritual practice, or simply showing up for your business.
Sagittarius is the spiritual fire of the horse within. Although these beautiful creatures possess the strength to dominate us, they choose to work with us instead, and that cooperation of equus and humanity resulted in equity: fairness in the adjustment of conflicting interests.
Equity cannot exist independent of enterprise, and all enterprise is really just exploratory play. Enterprise cannot exist independent of the spiritual fire; whether you conceive of it as such or not, it is undoubtedly present.
Returning to our Sabian Symbol, the concept of an “ice-breaker” in common parlance is that which brings a degree of social cohesion and harmony, allowing for partnerships, perhaps entrepreneurial, to evolve.
So as we move into “silly season”, the jovial, generous season of gift shopping and socialising, remember that every encounter is an opportunity to appreciate the social enterprise of the year gone, and gifts an opportunity to ensure the supply of spiritual sustenance for the year ahead.
New Moons are seeding moments, so situations pertaining to these themes may reveal themselves during the next Gemini Full Moon in May 2024.
This is a particularly potent New Moon for anyone with planets in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces), even more so when on the angles (1st, 4th, 7th and 10th Houses).
See Sag Scribbles (Journal Prompts) for this New Moon scattered throughout this post.
THE ARTISTRY ALCOVE
Finding Harmony in Chaos: The Surrealism of Remedios Varo
María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga, also known as Remedios Varo, was born in Anglés, Spain, 16th December 1908.
Remedios Varo’s story is a fascinating one, and not only was she a Sun Mercury Sagittarian, but also possessed a heavy Scorpio emphasis as well - like the story of Innana, Remedios journeyed to the underworld of her imagination and emerged anew through her artwork.
Remedios Varo was so called by her devout Catholic mother after the Patron Saint of Anglés, Virgen de los Remedios (the "Virgin of Remedies") - significantly Remedios was a Virgo (The Virgin) with Jupiter Rising (Jupiter rules Sagittarius).
Remedios’ father was an engineer and, realising Remedios’ talent, encouraged her to copy his technical drawings. As she matured her Father ensured her access to supplementary education; the world of science, philosophy and mysticism was revealed to her.
This caused Remedios to experience an irreconcilable internal conflict between the orthodox Catholic dogma and the progressive first-wave feminist movement of the turning century. Artistic expression allowed Remedios to quietly rebel against female suppression while simultaneously celebrating her complex spirituality and technical knowledge through her surrealistic style.
Remedios finished her formal artistic studies in 1930, spending time thereafter in Madrid, Paris and Barcelona, developing her craft and finding friendship within the surrealist social scenes of the 1930s. Fleeing World War II, Remedios settled in Mexico in 1948 for the rest of her artistic career.
“I arrived in Mexico seeking the peace I had not found in Europe because of the turmoil there - for me it was impossible to paint amidst so much uneasiness.” Remedios Varo
Remedios Varo’s life and art is significant to me this Sagittarius season as I consider the element of mutable chaos in life.
The mutable energy often brings the twists and turns, and the resulting inner chaos, we experience in life - for example, the ruler of my 10th House (Career) is in mutable Virgo, I worked in biopharma and then decided to do a complete U-turn.
To where? Chaos, lovely chaos.
I was considering studying philosophy, but instead worked as a stable hand, quite literally shoveling horse shite all day, and it was lovely (Mamma always said she didn’t care if I shoveled shite for a living as long as I was happy - lo and behold!) :)
I then worked as admin in a holistic centre, studied more astrology, tried out some film and TV work, got a Photoshop certificate, then finally settled into birthwork.
Outwardly it looks as though I didn’t achieve much of consequence during those years, but this period of chaos in my life was a necessary experience, akin to that of trying on a few outfits before a big night out (although that seldom happens anymore!).
Remedios’ chaos was external in that she traveled loosely and loved freely (as apparent from her colourful romantic history), but was also internal as she tried to make sense of her experience. Her internal chaos found order on the canvas, and as anyone here on Substack understands, chaos can find order within the words we write, and indeed any means of expressing ourselves.
Life is a surreal experience; we encounter important strangers on the road as we collect the shattered pieces of ourselves; we suffer our birth and death daily, yet in the Winters of our lives the beautiful things remain preserved, crystallised in our bones; we can bandage ourselves and yet find that we are bonded to the experience of pain; all of this chaos and yet, when we take a moment to look, we see that there are melodies of such harmony at play.
I don’t claim to understand the work of Remedios, and interpretations of her works presented above are formed of my own experiences, but I hope that those who find this can take a moment to appreciate the necessary chaos within their own lives, and the ever assured supply of creative opportunities that it offers.
Sagittarius Scribbles: Assure Your Supply of Creative Inspiration
Squiggle your chaos into order.
My Grandad taught me The Squiggle Game - close your eyes, draw a big lovely crazy squiggle, then meditate on the shapes, turning the page as you wish, until an image comes to you.
There are no rules, simply turn the squiggle into something beautiful, or weird and quirky, something that can only be seen by your inner eye.
RELISHING READS
I Meditated Naked by Claudia Wilde
I just adore the sincerity of Claudia Wilde’s letters. This week’s I Meditated Naked sung like a struck tuning fork in accordance with the Sagittarian themes this week.
Claudia describes the meandering, oh-so-mutable road she has also walked to get to where she is, and the internal chaos of an incredibly private moment in stillness.
“In my 32 years I have lived a lot of different lives, no doubt with many still ahead of me - at least that’s what I’m hoping for.” Claudia Wilde
Amidst the many lives we live, our body is the single canvas of expression that we carry with us to the end. Claudia reflects upon this with such beautiful candour.
“This body lived. This body lives. It is a reflection of the many moments I felt nothing but alive. It is a reflection of many joys and many scars, it is a testament to who I am. And I am not linear. I am not a certain weight or a certain shape.” Claudia Wilde
This essay conjured up some of the things I had been independently pondering this week. Although I could not describe myself as particularly devout, I do ponder Genesis a lot (Sagittarius does deal with religious and spiritual topics).
Why did Adam and Eve suffer shame upon the realisation of their nakedness? Why the use of fig leaves to preserve their modesty, specifically?
Fig leaves are large and sturdy, yes, but surely there’s more to the Genesis story than simple utility. Fig trees are spiritually revered, specifically the Aswatha Tree (Ficus religiosa) in Hindu thought (associated with Bodhi consciousness and Sagittarius).
Figs are not fruits but inverted flowers, and within some species, they are pollinated by a single female wasp who sacrifices herself within the male fig fruit, in order to lay her eggs and ensure the continuity of figs for future fig wasps.
Perhaps this speaks to the inevitable self-sacrifice of the Mother and Father to the “evils” of a life well lived, those fruits they must have tasted to guide their children in this chaotic life. The fruits of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil”.
Maybe, when we wear our shames with utter sincerity and openness are we able to pass down this knowledge to the precious and (as of yet) uncorrupted youth.
Maybe the Father externalises his shames, in accordance with the external, active yang principle, as he projects them onto the world and seeks to redeem himself on the societal level.
The Mother however, might internalise her shames, in accordance with the feminine yin principle, and projects her shames upon her own body, for she is responsible for physically carrying life into this world. She is a vessel of utmost importance. The form and shape of her naked vessel changes with time, and so tells the story of everything she did and did not do, for those with eyes to see it, and this brings shame regardless of the shape, for she alone can witness the full and unfolding story of her life.
With child or not, perhaps we are all bound to some element of shame as a necessary and self-sacrificial prerequisite for the passing on of the knowledge of good and evil in this world.
As corny as it sounds, when we make peace with our shame, when we understand what it really means, and begin to live with openness, shamelessness, and radical self-acceptance, we return to the Garden of Eden, restored to our former and glorious nakedness.
Sagittarius Scribbles: Assure Your Supply of Self Acceptance
Rewrite your life story, where every shameful experience was really a moment of self-sacrifice in the acquisition of important and spiritual truths.
What stories will your body tell?
What shames do you externalise? How? What shames do you internalise, and how?
What can you do for you today that allows you to overcome shame?
PODCAST PANORAMA
Intuition, Balance & Feminine Energy in The Science and Soul of Living Well
In this episode of The Science and Soul of Living Well, Dr. Melissa Ming Foynes discusses strategies for safeguarding the feminine energy with intuitive coach Isabelle Havers. Super relevant to Sagittarius season - Jupiter is expanding our self-affirming beliefs this New Moon, through the sign Taurus (the everyday mundane).
This chat also talks about burnout, and we can all too easily become burdened by our responsibilities this time of year - organising presents, potential travel plans and parties, all while trying to wrap up work for the holiday handover - it can be exhausting. Breath, then slow down with some podcast and chill this silly season.
Shadow’s and High Stakes: Understanding Gambling with This Jungian Life
I’m a big fan of the This Jungian Life podcast, and given that Sagittarius is often associated with gambling and speculation, well this episode was a no-brainer.
Every day we roll the dice of life - the careers we pursue, the partners we choose, even the foods that we eat - and to some degree we need an appetite for risk to survive and thrive. As always, This Jungian Life gives a fascinating exploration of speculation and gambling throughout recent history, and the more subtle archetypal component of gambling and risk within the human psyche.
SOUND SCAPES
My star Sagittarian musician for the month is Ukrainian model and actress Milla Jovovich - few realise that aside from starring roles in The Fifth Element and Resident Evil, Jovovich is an accomplished musician.
She released her album The Divine Comedy back in 1994, and this album title is such a fitting Sagittarius image - the ability to view burdens of life as some sort of cosmic comedic stage (irony a starring role!).
Jovovich described her style as something like Kate Bush and Sinéad O’Connor - and both ladies bring the fire inspiration, being Leo and Sagittarius ladies, respectively.
The Ukrainian folksy influence really comes through on The Divine Comedy, which allows me to segway into Ukrainian folk band Dakha Brakha here for the pure sake of it - if you haven’t witnessed this KEXP performance of Vesna, you haven’t lived (in my humble opinion).
Vesna will transport you. I promise.
I.C.Y.M.I
Here’s last month’s Red Tent Round-Up for the New Moon in Scorpio.
Red Tent Round Up #1: November New Moon in Scorpio
The concept of the Red Tent is a revived Native American tradition where the community held space for women during menstruation, honouring their physical embodiment of the natural cycles and heightened intuitive capacity at this time. As many women menstruate with the New Moon, this monthly round-up of material, relevant to the astrology, is intended to…
Retreat. Regenerate. Rebirth. Xx
Hello, Hello There
I’m Sarah Griffin, this is Griff-in-Theory. Vilomah, ex-pharmaceutical scientist, creative and inquisitive spirit, lover of both the macabre and the mystical. This is a space for pondering, so I would love to hear your ponderings in the comments.