We the people.
We the people are finding ways forward, together. We the people are rising up in protest and in protection of one another. We the people can keep calling each other in, to gather, to grow and to learn. We the people gain strength each time we dismantle the ways our privilege plays into our compliance with the systems that cause harm.
We the people can come to understand that our point of privilege is also our point of entry. Our invitation into inquiry. It is the place from which we can get curious instead of frozen in shame. It is the point where we can volunteer ourselves to receive an education instead of becoming more defended in ignorance. It is the point at which we can reach deep down and liberate ourselves from the complacency that privilege produces so that we can access the energy that is available when we choose real freedom over a false sense of importance.
On Friday, January 27th, the new moon in Aquarius will occur at 4:07 PM PT. We the people, the whole of humanity, is what Aquarius is interested in.
Liberation is the libation that Aquarius pours forth. But there is no feel-good phenomena that Aquarius selling. The sign symbolized by the water-bearer is often thought of as a water sign, but Aquarius is an air sign all the way. Aquarius deals in intellect. Aquarius is a visionary. It has insight. Foresight. Aquarius is able to see what others cannot: the bigger picture. The systems we are situated in. The way the entirety of a thing works. Aquarius thinks outside of itself and is perpetually asking, what about everyone else? Who is not here and why might that be? How can this include those that are marginalized, made invisible or left out of the equation?
This new moon is the Imbolc moon. Imbolc is a cross-quarter day, a day in between the solstice and the equinox. Imbolc is a traditional Gaelic festival that marks the stirrings of spring. From deep within the frozen earth new life is emerging. Imbolc is thought to mean “in the belly,” celebrating the life that invisibly starts in the womb. It is a time when the goddess, Brigid, is celebrated and asked to enter into people’s homes so they may receive her blessing. It is a time to offer her food and drink, a bed to sleep on and to hang cloth outside our doors for her to bless. A time to visit a sacred well, pray for health and leave an offering. A time to light candles, have a bonfire and call in the warmth and light of a new season.
This is a time to ask for assistance from the forces of nature that we live within. A time to offer what we have without expectation of what we will receive. This is a time where we ask to be purified by the waters that are thawing and by the promise of new life, a time to be purged of what has is no longer logical, useful or working.
The waters that Aquarius pours forth are cleansing and refreshing. They bring with them the good fortune of washing away the old and outdated ways of thinking to make way for new and innovative modes of understanding. Many cultural practices the world over ask us to pour libation as a ritual offering to the Divine, to the earth, to the ancestors and to awaken a particular spirit for assistance.
Offerings are essential in any interaction. When we need help we seek out a professional’s expertise and we offer something in return for their service. When we receive wisdom from another, we should offer recognition for their labour. When we receive healing through another that shares their experience with us, we should offer, at the very least, our gratitude. An offering is an act of recognition. An act of humility. An act of honoring the efforts of each other.
One of the main doctrines of privilege is that those that have it can take what they like from whomever they’d like to without ever acknowledging that they did. Privilege promises that its benefactors need never need say thank you for the labour, the love, the live’s sacrificed for its own power or comfort. White supremacy, in particular, creates hostile fragility, the kind that is so spiritually malnourished it knows not of a thank you, it knows not of an offering, it knows not of gratitude.
It knows no libation.
May we use this new moon as an offering. An offering of gratitude for the benefits that we have received from the intellectual, emotional and spiritual labour of others. May we use this new moon to recognize what we usually take for granted. May we use this new moon to pour ourselves forward, in gratitude, in whatever way we need to, and may we be cleansed of the notion that we will ever be finished doing so.
New moon blessings,
Chani
