The arrival of the new moon stamps the moonth with an initiating energy that shifts and develops through a cycle of growth, fullness, and descent. Each moonth I look to the Tarot’s astrological correspondences for the new moon to find 3 Tarot cards (a Major showing us the path, a numbered Minor showing us our passage and practice, and a court/people card showing us the posture to take on the path) to guide musings on soul tending, selection of prompts for personal/spiritual practice, and creation of a moonthly reading. The reading can be done any time, but ideally between the new and full moons. Revisit the cards you pull periodically up until the next lunation to gain new insight as the light changes.

The exact moment of the moon’s renewal (Thursday, the 10th at 11:26 pm, time zone converter) comes in the astrological sign of Virgo associated with the Tarot’s Hermit. Hermits turn from the demands of the everyday world and embrace solitude to seek the wisdom within. Paradoxically, this looking inward tunes them into all that is beyond themselves. They integrate their personal insights with the larger patterns to find an understanding of the Whole.

Once in touch with their Inner Wise One, Hermits are called to return and share their insight with others. The lantern commonly found in versions of this card signifies this responsibility. Their periods of solitude are not permanent but periodic. They still heed the call to serve their communities and respond to the needs of the world.

In the iconic Rider Waite Smith image, the Hermit’s lantern contains a six-pointed star created from two triangles, one pointing upward and the other downward to represent opposing energies converging. Fire and water are the common elemental attributions, but they could also be thought of as any seeming opposites: inner work and outer action or freedom and constraint, for example. Yes, here again we encounter the undercurrent theme of the Tarot: There is duality, but it invites us to reach toward integration.

The light of this six-pointed star becomes a beacon at the top of the mountain the Hermit has climbed. The mountain, of course, is a metaphor for the project we want to complete, the wisdom we want to increase, our highest/deepest dreams, or living up to our fullest potential both as individuals and collectives.

The lantern, too, is a metaphor. It represents the containers that focus our attention in this distracting world: our spiritual/personal practices, our planning processes, the values we use to guide our decision making. They give shape to our life, even constrict it a bit, so that energy can be concentrated. The Hermit instructs us to hold on to these containers and continue working with them even when they are tedious or don’t yield fast result. Their impact is cumulative. Their reward comes from steady tending.

Our Nine of Pentacles passage-of-the-moonth card aligns with and amplifies these Hermit themes.

In the iconic Rider Waite Smith image a woman stands in a lush garden. Her right hand reaching down to one of the pentacle emblems and her left hand raised holding a hooded falcon.

These falcon hoods limit visual stimulation that could cause distraction or stress for the bird and support human and bird to develop a relationship. Traditionally, this partnership has been undertaken for hunting help for the human. Today, nature educators may train falcons so they can be animal ambassadors to help humans develop a connection to nature. Ancient or modern, the constraint placed on the bird helps with focus. The hood, like the lantern, is a constraint that concentrates.

And what might be the greater offering of this constraint? I believe it could be a form of Magic.

Take a look at the Nine of Pentacles woman next to the Magician.

They are mirror images of each other. The Magician, as an archetype that exists beyond the bounds of an individual or the physical world, raises their right hand into the air and their left points downward to earth. The Pentacles woman of flesh and bone is the opposite. Seen side-by-side it is almost as if she is reaching for–possibly caressing–the magic the Magician has sent into the earth for her to find.

How did I find my way to putting these two cards side by side when my usual practice with these posts is to work only with one Major, one numbered minor, and one Court/Person card?

As may, or may not be, apparent, I am working with the decans of the astrological Wheel of the Year to find the cards of the moonth. I am not following all the details of the astrological tradition but using aspects of the Wheel structure to guide me toward cards that have a collective resonance because they come up at the same time of year each year.

One piece of the structure that has seemed like it could aid meaning making but I had not yet found a way to integrate into the moonthly posts is Sign Rulership. Each sign of the zodiac is said to be ruled by a planet, and, just like there are tarot correspondences for the zodiac signs, planets have their own. Mercury rules Virgo, for example, and this can be translated into Tarot-speak as The Magician rules the Hermit.

But in exploring the uses of Rulership, the connotation of the word seems not quite right. To describe this relationship, I’ve landed on Mentorship.

Mentors provide direction but not directives. They have specific areas of knowledge, expertise, or power that they’ve been developing for a little longer than the mentee. They serve by helping the mentee grow in these ways but through finding their own unique expression. Successful mentorships result in mentees becoming more resourceful version of their truest selves. Mentors also benefit from the process because they learn as well. A good match between a mentor and mentee leads to positive synergy.

Sidenote: Going into the inspirations and details of how I have developed this personal take on the astrological Wheel but is heretical to the source material will be the content presentation for our first moonthly gathering of the fall season on Monday, September 28 at 7 pm ET (time zone converter) for paid subscribers. The presentation will be followed by a sharing circle.

The Magician is the mentor of the Hermit, the Nine of Pentacles woman, and the Knight of Pentacles.

We’ll get to the Knight in a bit, but let’s finish our time with the aligned and amplifying messages of the Hermit and the Nine of Pentacles.

In both these cards, the images guide us to see a role for constraint in our lives, and also the hard work that comes from working with the constraint.

We may think of Magic as unconstrained, as an eruption of the numinous or Divine or synchronicities. And, yes, these are certainly magical. But if we want to give Magic a place here on Earth, in our everyday life, and to have the possibility of entering into our material reality then work is required.

If we are to ground Magic in our lives, we must do it by working with the constraints of the physical realities of earth and our own bodies. As we climb our mountains and tend our gardens, we must accept endings, breakings, and imperfections, but these cracks are how the light gets in (to quote Leonard Cohen). When we do this, we bring Magic to earth. Once grounded the Magic begins to take on a more lasting form. The magic becomes enduring.

The Knight of Pentacles shows us the posture to take to create and sustain enduring Magic. These are the slowest knights of the Tarot. Their horses seem still. But both night and horse are steady. They persist in their quests because they keep their focus on what is most important. We see this in the Rider Waite Smith card by how they hold up and gaze intently upon their pentacle.

Their relationship to the pentacle is like the Hermit’s relationship to the lantern. In fact, put these two cards next to each other and the mirrored aspects of the figures jump out at us. They face in different directions, but both are holding out signs of their service, gazing at them intently, standing steady and still. In one of those tiny details through which Tarot images make subtle, powerful connections, the shapes of their headware are similar. The Knight’s helmet is topped with some greenery that curves back just like the cap of the Hermit’s cloak.

And do you see it? They are both offering stars! The Hermit in the lantern and the Knight through the pentacle’s starred center.

Above we explored how the six-pointed star unites what is seemingly opposite. These cards call me to seek the opposites of the Magical and the Earthly and attempt to integrate them. I will work to break down the limiting belief that the Earth, or us with our limited bodies, are separate from the Magical.

Let’s travel the moonth looking for their connections and dare to bring them together in our personal and collective lives.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS / READING FOR THE MOONTH

These questions are offered for reflection and to spark practice throughout the moonth. Pulling Tarot and oracle cards in connection to these questions is appropriate, but not absolutely necessary. You might carry a question with you on a walk, for example, and observe what is happening in the natural world as a way to find insight into the answer to the question.

MAGIC: What Magic waits for me to reach out and embrace it?

EARTH: What constraint will I need to work with to concentrate my Magic?

STAR: How can I integrate Magic and Earth to serve as a beacon of possibility during the moonth?

I do offer this as an e-reading in my collaborative intuitive format for $32. Sign up with Pay Pal or email me about sending a check. When I receive notification, I’ll be in touch to let you know about when to expect to receive your reading by email. I generally do these readings on Mondays and Saturdays.