🌙 ♐️ First Quarter Moon in Sag
The First Quarter Moon in Sagittarius rolls in on Friday, September 18th at 4:44 PM EST, and its energy has been simmering in our collective consciousness for some time now.
👉 Last week, the Virgo New Moon came in with this electrifying but harmonious energy, opening a hospitable and inviting new beginning that felt like the gulp of fresh air we needed.
👉 The week prior, the Last Quarter Moon in Gemini helped us release the suffocating weight of pain, shame, anger, and sadness that we no longer need to tend to. Gemini held up a mirror and asked us to look at what has already healed but we continue shielding out of anxiety, fear, or some false sense of stability. It showed us the attachments still tied to those wounds and tangled throughout our web of life through habits, self-sabotage, beliefs, and thought patterns.
And here we are, nearly two weeks later, almost 14 days into traversing an unplanned awakening. Looking back over those two weeks—and even a few weeks further—we can see more clearly in hindsight that the Leo Eclipse ignited a shift quicker than we were able to recognize it. It almost feels like we've shed 100 pounds, come through the birth canal as a new person, and opened our eyes only to realize there is now a great mountain range in front of us.
Things got deep quickly, healed quickly, and now they're gaining momentum quickly, but strangely, it hasn't felt chaotic. It feels rhythmic and supportive, as if we're being ushered toward the exact place we're meant to be, like contractions bringing us closer and closer to the sunlight needed for our growth. We aren't necessarily trying to become someone new anymore. We're learning how to move through the world as the person we've already become.
It feels like we've reached the point in Arthurian legend where we finally pull the sword from the stone, not because we've suddenly become worthy, but because we've become the version of ourselves capable of wielding what was ours all along. At first, we weren't exactly sure what to do with it. Maybe we were even a little surprised that we could finally pull it free. Fortunately, the Virgo New Moon gave us somewhere to put that power, helping us alchemize confusion into intention, bring detail to the vision, organization to the ideas, and tangible plans to something that, only a few weeks ago, may have existed as a quiet knowing inside of us.
The growth of those intentions and goals is becoming the momentum and push we feel as the Moon waxes further toward wholeness. It feels exciting but grounded, shaky but honest. There is movement here, but it isn't asking us to abandon ourselves in order to keep up. Instead, the momentum is making it easier to adjust our routines, move differently, and breathe with a different level of resolution, protection, and intention. It feels like the shadow that had been holding us back from operating in full alignment is finally behind us.
It feels good to step into this sunshine and bask in the final golden hour of summer. We're approaching the Autumn Equinox, that brief balancing point between light and dark before the nights begin taking up more space. This is harvest season in our external world, but we have internal, mental, and spiritual crops to harvest, too. It's a moment when we get to sit back and be proud of who we are, take stock of how we've learned to love ourselves, and recognize that we aren't just becoming the version of ourselves we want to be anymore—we're also falling in love with her.
There is a deepening relationship with ourselves right now that carries the excitement of newlywed love. We're learning this version of ourselves, discovering her rhythms, understanding what she needs, what she refuses to carry anymore, what she values, and where she wants to go. But this season also reminds us of the duality we must always come back to. As we approach the Equinox, the hours of sunlight and moonlight move toward balance before darkness begins stretching further into our days, and nature invites us to rebalance how we interact with our own light and dark, too.
It's the time of year that pushes us to find more sacredness in the dark hours of morning or night, to soak up the final degrees of summer wisdom and decide what we're taking with us. Bottle it, can it, jar it—preserve whatever brought warmth, clarity, nourishment, and life into this season so we have something to reach for during the darker months ahead. Eventually, we have to learn how to find new forms of sunshine from within. Autumn begins teaching us how to become our own inner spring when the Sun isn't always lighting our path.
It asks us to embrace the duality of our existence more deeply, remembering that within light there is darkness and within darkness there is light. Neither one needs to be eliminated for us to be whole, and balance isn't a destination we finally arrive at. It will always be a dynamic, shifting relationship. Soon, our external world begins shifting with us: greens become reds and browns, leaves fall, gardens empty, and what once bloomed begins returning to the earth. Nature reminds us again that seasons are always changing, our lives are always adjusting, and energy is always moving.
But this autumn feels different because this time, we're entering it differently. We've released, healed, reorganized, made plans, and met another version of ourselves. Now it's time to show our higher selves—and the Universe—the new dance moves we've learned for this new vibration. And maybe that's exactly why Sagittarius meets us here.
The sign of Sagittarius is represented by the archered Centaur—half human, half beast—already carrying within it the duality we've been exploring. There is instinct and intellect, earth and spirit, the animal body that senses and the human consciousness that chooses where to aim. The archer itself is a symbol of precision, while fiery Sagittarius brings movement, courage, expansion, and the willingness to venture beyond what is already known.
Whenever the Moon resides in Sagittarius, we're invited to find that same relationship within ourselves, allowing the truth we hear inside to set the aim of our bow, drawing the arrow back with intention, and trusting ourselves enough to release it. The archer doesn't release the arrow and then chase after it asking whether it chose the right direction. There is listening, there is aim, and then there is release. The inner knowing is already creating movement.
This is where the First Quarter Moon becomes important. We are no longer standing at the blank slate of the New Moon asking ourselves what we desire. We've already named it, planted something, and begun. The First Quarter Moon brings us to the first real point of action, where our intentions meets friction, the idea encounters reality, and we have enough information to notice what needs adjusting but not enough distance traveled to know exactly how everything will turn out.
Sagittarius doesn't need to know exactly how everything will turn out. It needs a direction. It needs something true enough to aim toward. This energy pulls forward our inner crusader, the part of us willing to meet the obstacles standing between where we are and the expansion we've been working toward. Not by forcing our way through every obstacle or proving how fearless we are, but by trusting ourselves enough to continue moving when the entire path hasn't revealed itself yet.
And maybe that's what this Moon is really showing us: your inner knowing is the movement. It isn't something separate from the unfolding or a voice giving you directions from the sidelines. Every time you hear yourself more clearly, trust what you hear, adjust your life around that truth, or choose differently because of it, you are already moving. Sagittarius simply gives that movement somewhere to go.
We have less than a week left of Virgo season before the Fall Equinox opens the door to Libra Season. It's our time to harvest the fruits of the organization and stability we've cultivated over these past few weeks and months. What is Virgo season leaving with you that can support the shift ahead? What pieces of precision, order, ritual, or stability are worth carrying with you and composting into the fall and winter months? What have you learned about the person you've become, and what direction keeps calling you even when you don't know exactly where it leads?
You've already heard the knowing. Now we get to see where it moves you✨ 🌬️
INTEGRATION
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INTEGRATION 🌿
TAROT SPREAD: TEMPERANCE CARD
The Temperance Tarot card symbolizes the astrological sign of Sagittarius, the Archer. Also a Centaur, half-man, half beast, bringing to light the opposites living within us. The archer is a symbol of precision while fiery Sagittarius sparks the action and flow in our energy. In order for us to take aligned action, we must first understand what thoughts and actions need to be tempered within our minds. Once tempered, our precision becomes second nature.
First, remove the Temperance Card from your deck.
Second, separate the major arcana from the minor arcana cards creating two piles.
Then, shuffle each and pull from each pile according to the below instructions.
Card 1: What is in balance (minor arcana)
Card 2: What is out of balance (minor arcana)
Card 3: What guidance to I need? (major arcana)
Card 4: What action is needed (major arcana)
Card 5: The outcome (major arcana)
Journal Prompts
What inner crops am I harvesting from my healing journey this year? What habit or habits am I adjusting or adding to preserve each of these crops in my inner world through the Fall and Winter season?
What energies, opportunities, or relationships do you feel coming my way? Is there anything I am resisting about this momentum? What areas in my life need more order or details ironed out to make space for them?
What wounds am I still tending to out of habit or sense of stability? How can I cut the attachment to these? Are there any daily routines that can be adjusted to take a step towards this change?
