New Moon at 20° Capricorn, January 11, 2024, 4:56 AM MST
Sabian Symbol: A relay race
This New Moon gives us a second chance at creating a vision for the year ahead, perfect for those who were late to making New Year’s Resolutions. Although we might find it easier to continue internal reflection rather than kickstart anything new just yet.
The Moon meets the Sun Capricorn for a belated yuletide celebration. After the joyous return of the Sun to the Northern hemisphere, this syzygy is for putting pen to paper to take an inventory of our lives and forging ahead with new intentions. This is also the final lunation in Capricorn co-present with Pluto for 240 years. The Moon is debilitated in Capricorn, it is not a happy place for her to be and she is prone to brooding and pain and sorrow. In Capricorn, Pluto has been a bully to the Moon—constantly subjecting her to the trials of transformation and asking us to confront long-buried negativity for the sake of cleanse through exposure. The Moon must make one last appearance before this Cosmic Judge, only this time it will be a tribunal with Mars also present, in the seat of his exaltation. This New Moon requires that we look to our shortcomings, but also our triumphs, and metabolize our lessons learned so that we can set intentions for long term success. Putting together resolutions for the New Year is not a pointless exercise, but it’s also not meant for building good habits over the next 12 months; the truly exceptional individuals will understand that a legacy is to be made out of the formless future.
The somber tone of the New Moon is sweetened just a little by the Great Benefics being in mutual reception to one another. Jupiter and Venus are currently doing a The-Holiday-style house swap with Jupiter in Venus’ domicile of Taurus and Venus in Jupiter’s domicile of Sagittarius. There is an energy of jovial reciprocity present and it reminds us to count our blessings and revel in the small, but profound joys of our relationships with one another. As we prepare to take on more responsibility for ourselves and our lives with the New Moon, may we remember that gifts are revealed and bestowed on us every in the form of luck, love, and lessons.
Mercury is still in his post-retrograde shadow and also exiled in Sagittarius during this New Moon. After a bit of a whacky retrograde over Christmas and New Year’s, the messenger is retracing his steps over a path he’s trod a couple of times this season. When making plans, visions, and resolutions, we must remember to stay grounded in the small and accomplishable tasks. Mercury in Sagittarius is often looking at things carelessly, from a bird’s eye view. This retrospective post-shadow period is useful for paying attention to the smaller details that may have been missed before.
If the New Moon feels weighty—like there are big stakes somehow involved—it’s because there are. There are shadowy players subtly controlling the events leading up to and proceeding this lunation: the lunar nodes. At 20° Aries and Libra, the North and South Nodes are squaring the Moon and Sun in Capricorn. This is the exact halfway point between last October’s eclipses and the ones coming up in March and April. The intentions we’re setting now are informed, consciously or not, by events that befell back then, and they will start to bloom this coming Spring. It is recommended to spend some time reflecting on what is driving your choices now, lest we forget: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life and you will call it Fate.”