Quietly now, below the braying noise of the world, the moon takes her leave. On soft silver she slips silently behind the veil that shepherds her transition. Her rebirth in Aquaria will deliver the next lunar year and fresh threshold in a brand new cycle full of them. Mythologies will glitch and shift as wings and fire breath give way to the itch of ill fitting skins and a promising gleam beyond the moult.

Make no mistake about it darklings, this week reeks of rebirth as the past, present and future intermingle sans frontiers. Between Merc's planetary pinballing, his retrograde and cazimi and a whole new lunar year with the ultra Aquarian new moon, the end of this week won't remotely look or feel like its beginning.

Dark moon bolthole, anyone? You know by now darklings my penchant for the isolation and wonder of the dark moon. And its blessed bliss is now upon us in the midst of madness, mayhem and a solid first week Mercing.

When it comes to spirit animals, Miss Piggy has a place in my pantheon. As she rightly articulated this week - and I respectfully paraphrase - we fight to hold on and oh my giddy aunt how hard we fight to simply let go. Held fast as we are in the syrupy thick of the dark moon, we are now painfully brutally aware of all that eclipse season has excised from our lives.

We have officially entered the balsamic phase or the deepest dark of the moon. How well you dance through your darkness is the scene setter (and greatest determinant, in this witch's opinion) of how effective your new moon will be. And this next new moon in a few days - a solar eclipse and the lunar new year - is a Very Big Deal and the mightiest this year.

Oh that bridge of sighs between eclipses. Herewith the pointy end of this mad season, as we round the final bend and descend into the dark of the moon. We are not there yet, not nearly. These dark days are the eclipse slingshot drawing back, taut and shaking.

Time once and again for the deep dark moon dreaming that is de rigeur for the balsamic lunar phase, aka right now. You know the dark moon drill my darlings: declutter, release and repeat. This is *the* time every single month in a row to let go of anything / everything that irks, niggles, pains, blocks or bothers Beautiful You.

Just let it go. How many times has that old chesnut been flung in our direction with a well meaning lob? By the time our stomach sinks we know it is truth and our mind madly scrambles to find a way around it. There is none. If something in your life is toxic and you know it deep down in your marrow, it is time to let it go. And the dark moon is the perfect time to do it, adding Lady Luna’s gentle breath out to your own deep sigh of recognition.