Yesterday early morning, I dreamed of a tiger in my house. The house was different, but it was ours. We had a front room living room that faced the outside directly. I remember there were windows were on the left, the tv behind the tiger was on the opposite wall from the one that my back was facing, and the front door was on the far left right before where the opposite wall started at the corner. There were light blue towels on the yellow-cream colored wooden floor, under the tiger, and there was a little cage in the corner that was towards my back on the left. (Obviously proportions were a little off, after all, it was a dream!) The tiger was a big one!

The tiger was a pet we were domesticating, and it was mostly in just the one room, in the center of the room and facing me. I remember we made a lot of progress training the tiger. The tiger wasn’t going to destroy the house, but it felt threatened (and therefore became a danger to us) if it saw us holding up anything in our hands over our heads. It really didn’t like that, unless it was a little stuffed bunny. When I woke to the Lunar New Year, I appreciated how well this dream went with the changing of the tides. For the Chinese, the lunar New Year says goodbye to the energy of the Water Tiger; and say ‘Hello’ to the energy of the water rabbit. So in many ways, my dream was articulating this cycle change. It also felt like a nice “hand off.”

Then, yesterday, we found a local festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year with others, and to enjoy some food and some “Lion Dancing” which is usually the dance of the new animal themed for the year. The festival we found was a “Tet” Festival, which is the Vietnamese word for “New Year.” “Tet” literally means ‘festival’ but it is used to relate to the New Year celebration (Tết Nguyên Đán): the Vietnamese celebrate this year as the year of the Cat. So the cat was dancing instead of the lion or the rabbit.

Here’s an interesting article which highlights reasons for why this discrepancy might be: Why Vietnam is Celebrating the Year of the Cat. We enjoyed the festival with the very loud crackling fire-crackers and had some delicious Satay and put our wishes for the New Year up on one of the bloom trees.

This morning I was in contact with my close friend who said her cat died. I’m crushed to hear this and how sad her family must be to lose their sweet little kitty. I’m also struck by the symbolism of the cat, loss, and when people are prognosticating what’s next, there are omens. Before I segue into next topic about prognostication. Let’s do some homage to the cats (and our special cat who is crossing the rainbow bridge) by viewing this Bored Panda article that shows the different lives of cats with technology changes over the years, here, “Then Vs. Meow.

Our attempts at prognostication probably go along with our attempts at planning. We want to know what is ahead so we can budget our energy, resources, set our expectations, build supports, you name it! This is reasonable, right?! But that’s not how the world and the universe works. The universe wants you to paint your own picture for what’s next for you. You are safest staying in the present moment, though. Staying in the present moment isn’t as realistic when you have a family. So, I find that you tend to have to find some sort of hybrid lifestyle. Some of it has to do with “holding plans loosely” but some of it also has to do with just acceptance of when perfectly good plans go *poof* in their growing irrelevance.

This recent New Moon in Aquarius highlights “the future.” Aquarius is a sign that is ruled by Uranus and historically, Saturn. There are different astrological traditions, just like there are different cultures and ethnic interpretations. It’s quite interesting, actually. However, traditional astrology will still find Aquarius ruled by the planet Saturn. Vedic astrology also uses Saturn rulership for Aquarius. They have different names and emphases, but that is not the subject of this article. In modern, Western, Tropical astrology, Uranus is the ruler for Aquarius and it is associated with inventors, electricity, and humanitarians. That’s a pretty interesting collection of things, huh? I think this assemblage might be why Nikola Tesla is basically a spokesperson for this sign: Aquarius. His brilliant electrical inventions were meant to free humanity. He was not marketing genius that Edison was. So his history got a little bit darkened by poverty and having his work stolen.

Humanity has a lot of questions to answer. Right now the tech sector has a large number of layoffs and the preparation for what is predicted for the economy can be terrifying. So many have questioned the model of Capitalism as one that we have to ask: Is this model safe for the Earth? The way I’m posing these questions makes it simplified but it’s really quite complex. Capitalism doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it exists in a democracy–which we are also questioning the stability of. So I think humanity is at many crossroads, and I think that this is where invention and creativity come in. Aquarian creativity is often described as a “flash of inspiration, that seems to come out of the blue. We are on the brink of figuring out how to use nuclear fusion for clean energy.

“What we saw from that experiment on 5 December is we produced three megajoules of fusion energy for two megajoules of laser energy in, for a gain of about 1.5. That is the first time in a laboratory that anyone has produced more fusion gain out than the energy put into the capsule” (weforum.org).”

What does the Aquarian New Moon say to us as Mercury and Mars have both gone direct? Not much right now, as far as I’m concerned, just subtle pointing. I am, however, looking to @March 2023 for some movements and more information to come out about newer-to-take trends. In March, Pluto, who rules fusion, (more about Pluto’s planetary status in astronomy), will be entering Aquarius. Then, also in March, Saturn enters Pisces for @2.5 years, and leaves Aquarius. When shifts like these happen, and two big ones, at the same time–that’s when I look up, and watch.

So my friends, please share with me your omens, experiences, and thoughts!! I’m settled into the New Year 2023 now. Snug as a bug on a rug. It’s a feeling, not really a “thing” that can be described. Maybe, it’s that I am strapped into my seatbelt of local comfort. The “hand off” between years and energies went okay enough.

I think the time is always ripe to open our horizons in our minds. This is especially assisted during a New Moon in Aquarius, an air sign. Opening the windows of our smaller minds to our higher minds, and feeling the space and freedom of letting ourselves out of our own containers for some fresh air, or new way of perceiving, or some fun and funky unconventional escapade is in order.