Lunar News: New Moon in Aquarius
A person who had for a time become the embodiment of an ideal is made to realize that as a person, he is not this ideal
New Moon at 9° Aquarius on January 29th at 5:36 AM MST
Sabian Symbol: A person who had for a time become the embodiment of an ideal is made to realize that as a person, he is not this ideal
Did you know the Lunar News Spotify playlist has 12 songs, one for each zodiac sign? Each song a mini horoscope for your sign’s lunar cycle
Icy Aquarius season. The season firmly fixed in Winter. The season of Imbolc. Where I live, the Rio Grande is shallow enough to have frozen over for a few days. It was something to behold: I watched a coyote walking across the ice to get from the east side to the west side; small creatures were swimming just beneath the sheet of ice; crows were cracking the surface to catch a snack and the noise of the ice breaking reverberated throughout the Bosque. A frozen river is just about the most Aquarian symbol I can think of because the Water Bearer is depicted pouring the sacred waters down into what is known as the “stream” of the collective consciousness. Saturn—known to the Ancients as the planet on the edge of the universe—is the furthest from the Sun and thus the coldest celestial body and it is the planetary ruler of Aquarius. This New Moon, reflect on all the ways you need to thaw.
We are settling into a new era of Leo/Aquarius lunations now co-present with Pluto and we would do well to stay agile and alert for all the ways in which we can play a part in restructuring the culture of networks and community. For the last few years, Pluto has been transiting the border between Capricorn and Aquarius, and this is not the first syzygy with Pluto at play in this sign. However, Pluto is now moved into Aquarius for good with no more retrogrades putting it back into the 10th house of Capricorn anymore. Until 2044, Pluto will be having a strange and powerful effect on all Aquarius transits, including the Aquarius New Moons and Leo Full Moons, which will have us focusing on building up what was destroyed during the previous Pluto transit.
In Capricorn since 2008, Pluto was sowing deep transformation in all the basic foundational structures of our society and institutions—these are within the domain of Capricorn. The things that took the hardest hit were the centralized cores of power that hold dominion over the lives of people. The Great Recession, Occupy Wall Street, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, and decentralized digital commodity markets are all examples of the profoundly drastic changes to the things that gird society, which were a Plutonian effect. Pluto’s two-decades long transit through Aquarius is promising to be just as profound.
The next sign on the wheel—and thus the next phase of the story—is Aquarius: the sign of decentralization, rhizomatic organization, and community networks. From the rubble of the demolished establishments we are now encouraged to organize entirely new systems for working across different networks. It is no longer a group against a monolith, for that battle has already been fought. It is about structuring life within a society to work with each other, in rhythm, while respecting individual sovereignties. The Leo/Aquarius pole is about perfecting a sacred balance between individuation and group dynamics. For decades, the popular astrological interpretation of Aquarius that people tend to run with is that it is the sign of the power struggle between the masses against one hegemonic force. The more nuanced understanding of Aquarius, however, is through the lens of the qualities of its opposite. If Leo is ego-forward, individual focus, then Aquarius—ruling the 11th house of broad communities and societies—helps us figure out how to be individuals within a group. How to preserve self-contained power and vitality while existing in community. The Leo/Aquarius polarity is never supposed to be in constant conflict, no struggle sessions are needed to achieve a flow state that maintains the Self while in perfect Communion.
Pluto plunges us so deeply into explorations that we come out the other side of the transit thoroughly examined and forever changed. Having the new and full Moons occurring with Pluto in Aquarius during the late winters and late summers for the foreseeable future will create significant touch points on this journey.
As far as this New Moon goes, I am intrigued by the Sabian Symbol for the 9th degree of Aquarius, where the Sun-Moon conjunction is occurring. “A person who had for a time become the embodiment of an ideal is made to realize that as a person, he is not the ideal.” Aquarius is highly idealistic; always seeking, grasping, yet hardly ever satisfied. Unlike Pisces—which is the closure of the wheel, the transcendent integration point of everything all at once—Aquarius catches glimpses of transcendence and understands to what end all this is for, but it has not quite reached it. There’s a certain kind of striving and doing and going against the grain—a great act of Becoming—that preoccupies the analytic and high-minded Aquarius. Aquarius attempts to go after its goals with reasoned, structured effort, and they never stop to think whether or not their goal is realistic or achievable. The Fixed, stubborn determination is admirable at times, at others, horribly destructive.
An ideal is a point on the horizon that recedes as you approach it. Ideals exist for the purpose of motivating us to reach further, but they are ultimately not reachable, and fixating on them is a form of escapism because it keeps us focused on the chase, not material reality. It blinds us to what is achieved and we take for granted all the things we have won on the epic quest. Unchecked idealism can lead to great disappointment because we often feel we have nothing when, in fact, we are surrounded by so much. An excess of Aquarian energy, either in the transits, or in the natal chart, can create cynicism because of this constant disappointment. If you feel like you’re on the “epic quest,” but constantly returning empty-handed, then that deeply impacts your perception of the world and you begin to think nothing is worth it. A deep nihilism sets in.
When channeled correctly, however, Aquarian energy is strong and resilient. They are often the last ones standing, never giving up on the journey. When harnessing the gifts of an Aquarian transit properly, you can stop to look around at all you have accomplished and you’ll find yourself completely triumphant. This bolsters confidence and, in turn, motivates you further to keep going.
For the Aquarius New Moon, examine your ideals. What are they? Can you easily define them? Are they attainable, or are they grand delusions you use to escape reality? Do you know when to stop idealizing a person, a job, or a set of circumstances? Do you know when to stop striving and build up the gifts achieved already? Aquarius season in general will highlight these questions, but it’s good to use the momentum of the New Moon to get started on this mental strengthening. Pluto’s transit is going to ask you to be unflinchingly clear and honest with yourself in this examination. Or, rather, Pluto isn’t asking, it’s forcing. Whether or not you are consciously honest will determine how well the next few weeks will go for you. The planets are not causal in the sense that they contain properties that influence events and outcomes in our lives; rather, they move in synchronicity with our beings such that we can derive meaning from the patterns of their movements.
As a notable LEO once said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Big things ahead for this Aquarian buildup to the Leo Full Moon in two weeks.
January 30: Sun trine Jupiter Rx
What a great day to enjoy the simple beauty of everyday life. There is an easiness palpably felt which gives us buoyancy and lifts our spirits. Opportunities will pop up as a result of chatter and communication, so don’t dismiss any conversations with people you have even an inkling of optimism about. You never know what good things are lurking behind a simple “Hey, how’s it going.” It’s going to be tempting to indulge the good feelings by putting off your duties and responsibilities, but ideally you use this great day as momentum to get ahead of your work, any menial tasks, or start up a new hobby.
January 31: Uranus stations direct
Uranus has been sitting at 23° Taurus for quite awhile now, but today his motion finally turns forward and we’ll be on our way back to the “normal” chaos of Uranus’ transit. The planet is known to cause upsets and surprises, especially on the mundane level. The retrograde began on September 1, 2024 and many parts of the world experienced a strong resettlement of the terms of freedom, constraint, and societal change. All Uranian things. We live in a world much altered from 5 months ago and Uranus’ forward movement is going to inpsire us to cultivate creativity and innovation in our daily lives and adjust to this new reality. The other exciting thing about this direct stationing is that Uranus is on his way to the first ingress into Gemini from here. In a few months’ time, we’ll experience (yet another) massive energetic shift that the world has not seen in nearly 80 years.
February 1: Venus, North Node, Neptune (and the Moon) conjunction in Pisces
What a strange day. Anything is possible. Pay attention to your dreams. Don’t believe intrusive thoughts. Learn how to parse your delusions from helpful imagination and destructive racing thoughts of anxiety. Remember love is the answer.
The Venus-Neptune conjunction contains both good and bad. The good is that it makes us more attuned to beauty, like the Universe is coloring our reality in a rose-gold hue making everything appear gorgeous. When the world is awash in this beauty, it makes us feel good; we act sweeter and appreciate things more and the positivity carries forward into our lives. This transit creates momentum for heretofore unseen levels of creativity that we can run with. Experiences of the sublime are what sustain creative endeavors, which then evolve the collective consciousness forward.
The bad is that we treat this gift of beautification from the Universe as rose-colored glasses, a tool to keep us under a delusion that everything is always beautiful all the time. Relentless positivity is a coping mechanism that turns destructive every time because it facilitates our separation from reality. If we indulge the beauty too much, we tend to have heightened expectations that are never met and it drives us crazy. It distorts our perceptions and, often, causes us to withdraw further into fantasies. This transit, if negatively impacting us, can bring relationship issues to the surface if we find that our expectations on our lovers and friends are too high.
The Moon and North Node present add some interesting stakes to this conjunction. The Moon is adding subtle emotional depth to everything discussed above, and the North Node is a force that encourages us to trust our intuition. Lots of discernment will be needed on this day. It is important to remember our own agency in our lives as we navigate through Neptune’s murky waters. This transit presents a peak time for confusion, but we don’t have to overthink. Acting from the heart rather than the head is a good idea.
February 3: Mercury trine Jupiter Rx
Today’s transit is generally bullish for markets and trades, and it’s a good time to negotiate business deals as they are more likely to turn out favorably for all parties involved. More broadly, today’s Mercurial mile marker is good for expanding the mind. It’s not a huge deal, but feel free to explore lots of different hobbies or interests. It could be that a book you start reading today could transform your life and worldview some time in the future, you never know.
February 4: Venus ingress into Aries
We are going to feel an energetic shift from being overly romantic to being assertive, confident, and brazen in our relationships and our pursuits of wealth. Venus’ transit through Aries is typically great for building up a confident and extroverted Self. Devotion that was previously turned toward others, which makes the Self meek and minimized, is now turned toward ourselves. The caveat to this year’s transit through Aries is the Venus retrograde that will take place here this Spring. We’ll be encountering difficulties and harsh relationship to Self during this retrograde. But we’ll worry about that later.
February 5: Jupiter stations direct
From October 9, 2024 Jupiter’s slowed motion has caused a substantial amount of delays in our lives. You might have been expecting a greater amount of growth in your schooling, your job, relationships, or wherever you’ve been monitoring and hoping for progress and it feels like you’ve fallen short, or you have nothing to show for the last 4 months. Today the stagnancy pivots. If you didn’t give up in spite of the challenges you faced this Fall, congratulations, you will start to see the rewards of keeping at it. Over the next few weeks as Jupiter picks up his speed again, we’ll start to feel more positively and optimistic about the world around us again.
February 9: Mercury Cazimi
Today marks the perfection of the superior conjunction of Mercury to the Sun in Aquarius. The energy and significations of this transit have been intensifying since January 18th. Problems having to do with the themes of the Aquarius New Moon are resolving in ways that are more legible to our thinking brains. The Sun’s transit in Aquarius has been illuminating issues around individuation and formation of the Self against the backdrop of new networks and systems coalescing in this new era of society. Today, Mercury is helping us to integrate what we’ve learned so far during this Aquarius solar season. Do all the things in your power to clarify insights, whether that’s writing them down in a journal, having a long conversation with a trusted confidante, recording audio notes to yourself, whatever.
February 10: Mercury square Uranus
Mercury starts to separate from the Sun and immediately makes contact with Uranus through a square. The energy is frenetic and unhinged because Uranus is urging Mercury to get creative with finding solutions to our problems. Uranus does this by throwing us curveballs in our daily lives. If you have plans for today, almost none of them will work out. Your improvisation skills will be honed and it can be fun if you remain flexible. Drive safely today.
February 11: Sun square Uranus
The frustration from yesterday compounds with the Sun making the same point of contact with Uranus as Mercury did. This transit will cause disruption to our relationships most of all, however. This is because people’s egos are taking unexpected hits and most will feel like their freedoms are being threatened. Be careful not to take too much too personally. Remember to keep your desire for maximum freedom in check, too. Usually the things we try the hardest to avoid end up catching up to us faster than anything else.