Kristine Backes

Today was the third session of our writing Studio. I began by incorporating some information on the phase of the Moon. The Moon makes a complete circuit of the Zodiac each month, spending only two and a half days in each sign. Its position relative to the Sun determines whether it is New, Full, waxing or waning. Tracking the Moon’s monthly cycle can give us insights into our personal creative cycles: do we, like the Moon, begin new projects at the New Moon, bringing them into fruition at the Full Moon? Does our creative energy wane with the Moon, or do we find an inner resource wanting out as the light of the Moon diminishes? 

Maybe these answers will come clear for you over the coming weeks as we notice where the Moon is at each Studio session. 

The New Moon cycle begun in Aquarius on January 24th is coming to a close; this morning’s Moon, in Capricorn, was a small crescent, just ahead of the rising Sun. I noticed a surge of memories of the past coming up, wanting to be deposited on the page. Whether I am finishing up some old stories in the final days of this Moon, or Mercury’s retrograde is pulling me into the past, I can’t say – but it worked for writing something I needed to write!

Our primary prompt subject today was Jupiter, the planet that wanted to be a Sun. The biggest planet in our Solar System, Jupiter – named for the King of the Gods – has over 70 of its own moons at last count. It is its own Solar System, giving us a big clue to its energy – that of expansion. Jupiter is considered the great ‘benefic” in traditional astrology, said to bring luck, opportunity, and good fortune. It symbolizes our religion and beliefs, truth and freedom, and the ways in which we find meaning and greater expansion in our worlds. This is the energy that pushes us to learn and grow.

Every twelve years, Jupiter returns to the same place in the sky where it was at our birth, called a ‘Jupiter Return’. Shortly before our 12th, 24th, 36th, etc. birthdays we get a dose of Jupiter, flavored by the sign it inhabits in our birth chart. Around these ages, we go through a time of expansion, which can come in the form of teaching; or a zest for more learning and higher education; a push to write or publish a creative work;  a desire to explore a new religion or belief system; or perhaps a journey to a new place. The house where Jupiter resides in our birth chart will show us which form the expansion will take.

The prompts I offered for today’s writing sessions went along these lines:
In what ways did you expand during your Jupiter returns?

Or, begin with one of these sentences:
“Finally, I put my faith in natural law.”

“When I went searching for the truth…..”

At a time of good fortune – “It’s always better to be lucky than to be good.”

Join us! https://kristinebackes.com/weekly-astro-writing-salon/