Aquarius Super New Moon: Goddess Nekhbet

Welcome to the first new moon of 2023! These are powerful and exciting times, they are also inviting us to continue to "level up" our energy fields and our belief systems, as well as to move beyond and through any lingering fears about what is possible for us. I discuss the astrological conjunctions in the podcast above and want to spend a bit more time with the star Altair and constellation Aquila here in the podcast post.

Altair is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila (latin for eagle) and the 12th brightest star in our sky. As it is a fixed star sitting at 1degree of Aquarius, it is perfectly aligned with this new moon, which is the 3rd of 5 new moons taking place at 1 degree of their sign. Altair is associated with the energetics of both Mars and Jupiter, as is the same with the constellation Aquila. Mars provides us with the inspiration, ambition and courage to move towards our soul's desire and purpose and Jupiter compliments that with blessings of expansion, luck and seemingly magical coincidence. I discuss in my upcoming course on Alchemy and Egyptian Magic how magic is not outside of ourselves. "Magic" is likely mysterious for us at this juncture, but also well within our ability to harness its power. With this new moon, we are able to harness the energy for our own healing and realizations as well as for our ability to contribute towards the healing and building of a bright beautiful earth. 

I link the constellation Aquila (and star Altair) with Egyptian Goddess Nekhbet. Aquila is written about on a Euphratean stone dated 1200 BC, where it is described not only as "The Eagle" but also "The Living Eye". Nekhbet, daughter of Sun God Ra, who is often depicted as an all seeing eye, is commonly known as the Vulture Goddess, who is the protector of the pharaoh of upper Egypt. She and her sister Wadjet, also daughter or Ra, are known as "The Two Ladies". While Nekhbet procets Upper Egypt, Wadjet,  the cobra goddess, protects Lower Egypt. Together they unite to protect the unification of all of Egypt. 

---

There are a couple interesting things to note here: first that Aquila is also known as "The Living Eye" and Nepthys is often depicted either with her wings extended out in a gesture of protection, or with her wings one to the sky, one to the earth on one side of the Eye or Ra or Horus and Wadjet on the other side. According to researchers, among the birds that remained from the ancient world is the Nubian eagle; the eagle widely depicted by the Pharaonic inscriptions  on the walls of the temples in Luxor, which clearly illustrates the extent of reverence for that bird, especially in the era of the Old Kingdom. Eagles were highly associated with the deity Nekhbet; the deity of Upper Egypt, and the protector of the king. The ancient Egyptian depicted Nekhbet as a female eagle with a white crown on her head.

Nekhbet was known not only as a goddess of protection, but also a goddess of fertility. She was understood to have planted/gifted the first papyrus plants along the Nile, which was itself a source of life force energy and abundance. Papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) is an aquatic grasslike plant mostly known for its use as paper by ancient Egyptians. Horus, was the god responsible for giving the Egyptians the ability to write, and scribes were considered magical priests and priestesses, who understood alchemical processes and recorded them. This will be discussed in more depth in my online course which you can check out below! (Opening Gathering Saturday January 21st, first teaching session Sunday February 5th 2023.)

---