If you are hiking up a mountain, it’s important to keep your eyes focused on where you’re going. That said, at times it is essential to pause and look backward, to survey the landscape and terrain you’ve already traveled and assess how you’ve traveled it so far.
When the climb feels endless and fruitless, looking back reminds you how far you’ve come in your journey. And even if you feel like you’re on track, this moment of reflection gives you a chance to assess what techniques are working and what’s not working.
Where do you want to double down, and what do you want to change?
This approach is essential to making progress in any area of life.
The new moon in Capricorn on December 30, 2024 (5:26 pm ET, at 9º43’ Capricorn) arrives just in time to help us close out this year and plan for the year ahead, and it’s particularly well-suited to facilitate this process.
The Lunar Cycle: New Moon Energy
At the New Moon, the Sun and Moon meet at the same place in the sky. This is the darkest time of the lunar cycle, a time for reflection, introspection, and planting seeds for the new cycle.
This is a continuation of the energy from the Winter Solstice, which is like a new moon on the larger scale of the Sun’s path through the sky. The Solstice was a time of the Sun’s rebirth: moving from darkness into the light. Similarly, a new moon is the moment of the moon’s monthly rebirth. In both cases, something we begin in darkness gradually emerges into the light.
This is not about instant results; although a lunar cycle is 28 days, the seeds we plant now reach a culmination when the moon is fully illuminated by the Sun. This will happen in approximately 6 months — with the full moon in Capricorn.
New Moon in Capricorn: Slow and Steady
As the first sign of winter, Capricorn is a cardinal sign, which means that it takes initiative and leads the way. Symbolized by the sea goat that steadily climbs up the mountain, Capricorn is an industrious, hard-working, and patient sign that knows that slow-and-steady wins the race.
Ruled by Saturn, the planet of structure, time, and earned wisdom, Capricorn values a good plan that prioritizes consistent and persistent action balanced with rest, recovery, and moments to pause to check in on the process.
In Capricorn, we remember the value of playing the long game. Great achievements do not happen overnight or even in one 28-day lunar cycle. Rather, they are the result of diligent practice and constantly refining techniques to hone mastery in our craft.
When we take time to pause in our process and check in, we harvest wisdom that we can use to move forward more effectively.
3 Practical Ways to Work With the New Moon in Capricorn
The new moon in Capricorn is always one of my favorites because it’s such a practical lunation to work with. Here is the invitation of this new moon:
(1) Do Your Year-End Review
The New Moon in Capricorn reminds us that before we can set goals for the period ahead, we must review, reassess, and realign.
This is the time to do your year-end review. As you reflect back, don’t make the mistake of looking only at your results. It’s equally important — if not more important — to look at how you got there.
- What processes have been working well for you?
- What has not been working well for you?
- What have you learned?
- What approaches need to change?
- Are you goals still aligned, or is it time to change your destination as well as the way you are traveling?
Take what has been working, and leave behind what no longer works.
(2) Make a Plan
Once you’ve reviewed what you’ve done and how you’ve done it, what is working and what you need to change, are ready to plan for the next phase of the cycle.
Capricorn loves a goal, but it loves a plan even more.
Although it’s common to consider a full year, I often find that a year feels too long for planning; so much changes in the course of a year. Instead, I prefer to focus on a shorter time horizon, such as between now and the Spring Equinox — the next quarter — or the Summer Solstice, which is the 6-month mark.
Capricorn teaches us the value of focusing on one thing at a time. After all, the sea goat can’t climb multiple mountains at once. Consider one big thing you want to achieve in the time frame you set.
Then break it down into milestone markers so you can stay on track.
- Where do you want to be at the end of each month?
- Where do you want to be at the end of each week?
- What are the actions you will need to take to get there?
Use time blocking to schedule those actions into your calendar.
Consider what systems, structures, and support you need to play the long game.
(3) Establish Your Daily Rituals
As important as it is to set milestone markers and weekly check-ins, that alone is insufficient. Invariably life issues arise that create detours.
Any big outcome we want to achieve is the result of consistent and persistent daily actions over time. It emerges as the result of how we show up every day.
This is where daily rituals come in. Whereas habits are automatic reactions, rituals are formed with intention. Your rituals are the “habits” that you consciously create.
Daily actions might seem insignificant in the moment, but with consistency over time they build into big results.
If you want to run a marathon, training once a week won’t cut it. You need to develop daily rituals for training and recovery.
If you want to lift heavier in the gym, you’ll need a daily training plan.
If you want to write a book, writing once a month or once a week won’t get you there. You need a daily writing practice.
The same is true for anything else you want to achieve.
Maybe you need to build in 30 minutes a day to make one phone call to a new prospect, to practice a new skill, or refine a technique.
These small actions, when they become part of the fabric of your day, will impact your results more than your weekly plans.
They will keep you on track even when your days get derailed.
What are the actions that, if you do them daily, will help you climb your particular mountain?
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