Over the past two mornings, a wild wind has accompanied the dawn. Yesterday’s sky was a two-toned sherbet, while today’s sky is a pale grey. The delicious and unseasonal warmth rendered the wind to a strong breeze as I looked out at the rapidly melting snow. Yesterday we sledded up and down the hill to the dizzy, tizzying delights of our dog. But now it melts, along with the sounds of a Zen spa all around.
A most romantic new moon is building in Sagittarius, the sign of heights. The windswept feeling is available for us to acknowledge, and it is here to teach us something through its gentle touch. With Jupiter moving through inward Cancer, the sign in which it exalts, the lesson is to have these heights registered deeply, truly, and securely into the ‘home’ of inner life.
To underscore this idea, I will turn again to Colin Wilson and his ideas of “Romanticism Mark 3.”
Wilson observed that the original Romantics (Romanticism Mark 1) reached for moments of transcendence but often found themselves crashing into despair when those moments faded. The next wave, existentialists like Sartre and Camus (Romanticism Mark 2), recognized these highs but often concluded that life was ultimately absurd or meaningless—leaving little room for optimism.
“All thoughts, all passions, all delights, / Whatever stirs this mortal frame, / All are but ministers of Love, / And feed His sacred flame”
“Man is a useless passion.”
Wilson’s “Romanticism Mark 3” offers a new existential approach: instead of striving to remain in a state of perpetual ecstasy or dismissing these heights as mere illusions, we can accept that such moments are real, valuable, and attainable. The crucial aspect is to believe in the significance of these experiences, rather than striving for perfection. By integrating the memory and knowledge of them into our daily lives, we can live with a sense of purpose and hope, grounded in both reality and potential.
He argued that a new existential framework, which incorporates the reality of these heights of experience, could significantly address this problem. The issue is to sometimes remember these heights, as constantly maintaining them would burn a person out. The idea is to live life knowing about their reality in terms of potential and memory.
Turner defined English Romanticism by shifting focus from literal landscapes to the emotional power of nature’s elements
One of my favorite ways to honor the reality of heights is to build meaningful memories. This is precisely why I made sure we went sledding yesterday—I was determined not to let such Sagittarian signatures pass without creating some unforgettable heights from the experience.
I have my natal Jupiter in Cancer, as does Wilson. Like him, I am somewhat obsessed with finding ways to secure heights within the vortex of the subconscious. Wilson used the phrase “Eternal Yes” (versus the “Eternal No”), a concept he borrowed from Thomas Carlyle.
It never ceases to amaze me that when I play with a simple building of heights, the dividends come back tenfold. And by “heights,” I mean authentic, meaningful-to-me heights, and it could be as simple as tidying up a room and reading!
The charge builds towards a “heights experience.” I don’t lose faith in such an experience afterward because I know it wasn’t mere chance that gave it to me; it was my faith in its existence-in-potentia and my willingness to build it.
The moon will be new tonight in the evening at 8:41 pm EST. See if you can let the heights fully embrace the vortex movements of your inner life.
This New Moon is a practical invitation to never lose faith in romance and your power to plan, build, and reflect on the reality of these windswept heights.
As John Keats wrote in “Endymion,”
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness…”
Happy attuning to the romantic reality of these peaks.
Enjoy deeply this Sagittarian new moon.
nature's zodiac 
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