Not every beginning has to be brand new.
Which is to say, not every beginning is an entirely unique idea without origin, born of the head as Athena was born of Zeus.
Sometimes, a beginning looks more like Russian nesting dolls, one revelation revealing another.
Sometimes, an idea, or a project, comes together so slowly that it is hard to go back in time and pinpoint where it actually began.
We have idiomatic language for this, in English, such as “the butterfly effect,” where one flap of a butterfly’s wings causes an enormous, unexpected ripple (wrinkle) across space and time.
This is creative living: slowing down enough to notice the shift in the pattern, the break in the cycle, the new movement there in the corner. The way one idea bleeds into another, bleeds into another, bleeds into another, until the final shape is both unrecognizable from its origin but also, simultaneously, inextricable from it.
This is the energy we are all collectively moving into.
The New Moon is exact at 21’59 Cancer, at 5:43am Eastern on Tuesday, July 14th.
Coming off the Mercury cazimi, but still conjunct Mercury Rx, this is a moon for revisiting that which we care for and want to emotionally invest in. Which is to say, it’s not for fresh starts, but rather, for returning to our own inner seed bank and taking one of the carefully stored seed-ideas off the shelf.
Cancer is memory held in the body.
Mercury Rx helps give language to that we are returning to.
And so this is a potent time for reconnecting with loved ones, for revising written work, for re-committing to our values.
For reflecting on the butterfly effects we have witnessed in our lives (and spirituality and creativity), as well as the ones we perhaps cannot see in this moment. (May those of us who wish to have eyes to see. This energy feels especially resonant with this moon coming on the heels of Monday’s Venus-Uranus square, which often coincides with breakthroughs and shaking things loose.
It’s hot both literally and astrologically this week, and the New Moon is an invitation to slow down and cool down.
To remember that beneath today’s nesting doll… is another nesting doll.
That today’s decision may ripple into an unknown but perhaps deeply hoped for and cherished future.
A quick note for folks who’ve been feeling stuck, blocked, and otherwise uninspired:
If you don’t feel able to see or even think about the butterfly effect right now, I’d like to invite you to join me for a 90-minute ritual workshop and meditation, MEET YOUR MUSE, to meet the spirit(s) around you and your current project.
A past participant said “I believe in magic now,” and I think that about sums it up. Sometimes, the butterfly effect is set in motion with one simple meditation.
Wednesday July 29th at 10:30am Eastern on Zoom; a recording will be available.
Writing Prompts for the New Moon in Cancer
What “old” idea is feeling “new” again?
Creatively speaking, what memory are you holding in the body? Where in the body do you feel it?
Trace the “nesting dolls” of a past or current project. Consider the origins, or early versions, or inspirations, or “what if” stages a project went through before you arrived at its final form.
P.S. To access the weekly writing forecasts and a Discord full of other writers and witch-curious folks, you can upgrade your subscription here.
