Today the Moon will conjoin fixed star Capella (22° Gemini) , the brightest star in the constellation Auriga the Chariot, and the 6th brightest star of our night sky.
Capella has a special connection to Artemis, one of the many iterations of the Moon God/dess around the world.
Oriented to the star Capella, the ancient Greeks built the famous temple of Eleusis for the goddess Artemis Propylaií. Propylaií means "of the gate" and indicates Artemis task of guarding the threshold to the larger inner sanctum for the celebratory and initiatory rites of Demeter and Persephone.
Artemis's connection to the Moon is reflected in her paradoxical nature.
On the one hand she nurtures and protects the innocent, the young, and those who can bear children. She is a Goddess of fertility.
On the other hand, she is Goddess of the wild beasts and hunting, renowned for retaining and maintaining her freedom at all costs--and helping others to do the same.
Artemis reminds us of how we must belong to ourselves before we belong to anyone or anything else.
As a Goddess of the Moon, having full autonomous embodiment, freedom to shapeshift, freedom to nurture our most creative instincts are part of Artemis's wisdom mysteries.
Artemis also teaches us that if all of us are not free, then none of us are truly free.
It is merely a matter of time before your neighbor's oppression then spreads to your sphere. That we must stand in our convictions and actively nurture the independence to be, for all beings and creatures.
Strabo says that the meaning of Artemis's name is derived from how she made the people "Artemeas".
This means "Safe and Sound".
Today the Moon passes over her sacred Star, giving us a chance to meditate and embody her gifts.
How can you help others (both human and more-than-human) be safe and sound today?
What divine thresholds and liminal spaces can we guard on behalf of those undergoing sacred shapeshifting and transformation?