Dig in darklings for this is likely to be the deepest dark moon of the year. It is the deep breath in and the pause prior to the revolution. It is built on solitude and surrender and gently sifting through the detritus of the last eight years on a quest for uncommon wisdom.

Just checking in from my astrofuquery bolthole to see how the weekend is treating you, darklings. Venting, ranting and non specific shots across the bow welcome here. Better out than in and splattered in such a way as not to cause irreparable damage in real life, non?

The dark moon in Pisces before she emerges anew is a deep abyss in the cavernous ocean of the self. These are the closing moments of eclipsia, whose peculiar medicine has been as unsettling as it has been instructive. Holy mother of Neptune what a colossal catalyst she was. Here now we tread water in the closing degrees of the zodiac, a place built on drawing conclusion.

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.

This is a trigger warning, darklings. And not just your particular flavour when the gun is cocked, oh my word no. Today is an across the board recipe for blown tops, epic frustration and the kind of sandpaper niggling that shreds even the thickest of skins.

Still may we be, sitting through the spin cycle of les eclipses. In moments or minutes or more. Mars continues to throb away, testing the true nature of our firepower. The divine scramble is palpable, nostalgic and prophetic all at once.

The dark moon has slipped on its Aquarian coat and the heaviness of the agitation cycle is giving way to Neptune's call as visions now travel both ways down our personal highways.

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.

Today's dark moon dreaming is being magnified by this ephemeral Pisces moon. At once vague and visionary, she's pulling us deep below the surface twitter of birds and nodding sunflowers.

If you're feeling an overwhelming urge right now to chuck your life and all its irritating little facets over the back of your head as you make a glorious getaway somewhere else, you are channelling the mood du jour.

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.

Dark mooning, the way nature does it.

We are again in the dark phase of the moon, a time of introspection, the kind you only get from being alone with your thoughts and the bright stars above.