Sagittarius New Moon: Stranger Things

My mom’s father, who grew up on a Kansas farm in the early 1900s, had a front row seat for the tail end of the wild west. And as a Sagittarian, he loved to tell tales. We were never sure if his outrageous yarns were actually true, a complete fabrication, or somewhere in between. The following story may have been embellished for effect, but my cousin the genealogist has confirmed that Grandpa’s father was indeed in a prisoner of war camp for two years toward the end of the Civil War. How he escaped is the point in question. I’m going with Grandpa’s colorful retelling of it, as this story and its unlikely heroine have become part of our family’s mythology. And stranger things have been known to happen.

William Edward Hewes (Sagittarius Moon), told his son Joseph Lon Hewes (Sagittarius Sun), that he’d been captured and held prisoner near the banks of the Ohio River during the war. Many men were badly wounded, but there was no qualified doctor to tend to them – and very little food. William, who’d been conscripted into the confederacy against his will, was desperate to get away.

According to Grandpa, a large black woman helped his father’s wish come true. William had two five-dollar gold pieces sewn into his boot soles, and he promised the woman he’d give her one if she could somehow get him to the river where he could escape.

“She was an enormous woman,” Grandpa recalled his father saying. “She must’ve been seven feet tall. She must’ve weighed 400 pounds. She had great big skirts.” They decided that he would hide beneath them. “She could hobble along like she was lame and I could hop along underneath.” So, he gave her the gold piece and all went well at first. “But as I got out from under her skirt and began to run into the river, the soldiers started shooting.” A deadly Minie ball hit his knee as he dove into the water. Grandpa said that his dad floated downriver for three miles, made it to Missouri then hobbled home to Kansas.

William Hewes, a blacksmith, had three marriages over his long life. He fathered my grandpa at 67. And he died at 87 with that Minie ball still in his knee. What I want to know is, who was the woman that saved his life, and what became of her? Why was she at that camp? Was she a slave? Did the gold piece help her escape as well? We will never know. But I like to draw on her courage when I need it.

Do you have an ancestor – or an important person on the Other Side – that you call on for support? The Sagittarius New Moon (Dec. 19, 5:43 p.m. PT) is a good time to do so. At the holidays, we’re in the mood for something uplifting. Yet this lunation at 28 Sagittarius squares strict Saturn and murky Neptune in late Pisces. Not exactly the fun frolic we had in mind. But once the Sun shifts into Capricorn on Sunday, Dec. 21 at the Solstice, more stable – if not more cheery – energy arrives. The Sun is now at its lowest point in the midday sky, here in the North. Take some time to go within before charging forth with new plans.

Neptune entered Pisces in 2011, and Saturn joined it in 2023. It’s been a wild ride – full of uncertainty, AI, “fake news” and the need to go on faith and trust in Spirit. In the last few years, especially, there’s been a lot of tension between what is real (Saturn) and what is fantasy (Neptune). That will certainly be a theme of this New Moon, as both of those planets impact the Sun, Moon and Venus (identity, emotions, values and relationships) in fiery, go-for-it Sagittarius. Saturn urges caution and tests us with roadblocks, while Neptune wants us to take a leap of faith into the unknown. Which will win out? We shall see.

This New Moon is ruled by Jupiter, exalted in Cancer and trine Saturn and Neptune. Watery Cancer encourages us to go on instinct. If you’re faced with a decision, trust your gut. Jupiter makes an exact square to Chiron in Aries, urging bravery despite your fears. He may have been running on adrenaline, with nothing left to lose, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy for my great-grandfather to make that mad dash for freedom. Why not call on William Hewes, or better yet, that brave woman – let’s call her Faith – who rescued him all those years ago? And do let me know if they respond – stranger things have happened!