The New Moon in Aquarius perfects on February 9th at 4:58pm CST. The Sun and the Moon are conjoined at 20º of Aquarius creating a New Moon. These are beginnings, cycles of initiation whether by fate or by our own hand. You may notice that New and Full Moons dominate our monthly experience, but they also work in annual cycles, the events that take place this month will culminate by the Full Moon on August 19th 2024 bringing a turning point to the cycle. The cycle completes itself, waning and beginning again, on January 29th 2025 with another New Moon in the same sign. The purpose of these articles is to hone a deeper understanding of these cycles, articulate the archetypes we may see as a collective, and to advise any challenging astro weather for a calmer mind and spirit. If you enjoy these, you can subscribe to my newsletter to be notified when a new post is uploaded.
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The Major Aspects:
• Sun-Moon in Aquarius square Uranus in Taurus (1º orb, separating)
• Mercury in Aquarius square Jupiter in Taurus (1º orb)
• Mars in Capricorn sextile Neptune in Pisces (1º orb, separating)
• Jupiter in Taurus sextile Saturn in Pisces (1º orb, separating)
• Venus in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus (2º orb, separating)
Delineation:
In the February Newsletter, I wrote a bit about the Aquarius-Taurus square calling it the "mind fuck of time", this is the strange sensation of things moving simultaneously slower than we desire and faster than we can handle. Taurus is the anchor of Aquarius and we can see this throughout the theme of the square: our setbacks often unknowingly put us ahead, our personal values create our communities and our reasons for activism, the limits of tradition beg to be defied and adapted to fit the needs of humanity as it evolves.
Taurus can struggle with change though. My Sun is in Taurus and while the rest of my chart is mostly fire and air, all it takes is this single obstinate, uncompromising placement to root my nature in resistance. I hate sleeping in foreign places, there is nothing worse than being in another person's bed. I cry every time I move, or start a new job, I get an uncomfortable, itchy feeling when I start a new relationship of any kind. I often think to myself, "there is no way that this will last," and then, because I've already begun the process of something new, it outlasts my doubt and stays in my life for years at a time, rooting itself into the very fabric of who I am and who I become. The way I comfort myself through the tears of transition is by remembering all of the times I felt my stubborn repulsion melt over the months and the years, how I now couldn't picture my life without that experience or person, reminding myself how often I can get in my own way.
The square created from Taurus can really bring these things out in Aquarius too. Just because this is a sign noticed for its foresight does not necessarily mean that it is flexible or willing. This is a fixed sign! It deals with consistency. Like the kid who will not allow his food to touch, there is a certain routine in Aquarius' rules. It often doesn't make sense to other people, why they are like that and then cyclically, Aquarius watches as all of the previously judgmental become exactly the same, even if only by principle. I do think there is an element of this to the New Moon– a right and a wrong way to do things, revolution in the form of awareness, separation on the grounds of mismatched principle (we are still in the last Solar Eclipse cycle btw– divorce can take many forms). So, Taurus and Aquarius are actually not all that different. Aquarius in all of its inflexibility will cut you off in a heartbeat if you dare to defy one of its obscure rules... though, just because it seems obscure in the moment does not mean you won't find yourself in a similar situation later, finally understanding exactly why they did what they did. This is a Saturnian sign, the karmic planet who circles around later to make sure you know what you missed back there.
This New Moon in Aquarius squares Uranus in Taurus while Mercury in Aquarius squares Jupiter in Taurus. Changes and shocks and modifications and separations and unlikely matches plague us this month, but I hope you will remember that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Or! Conversely, maybe you've stuck to your guns on something that finally reveals the "why" behind your endurance. Jupiter in Taurus has been such an uncomfortable transit because it has us stretching and growing in a place we'd prefer to stay stone. We have all we need right here thank you very much, we don't need anymore lessons, or growing pains, or new people entering into this sacred space. A New Moon, Mercury, and Pluto all in Aquarius will surely challenge that.
I always say, Uranus in Taurus radicalized me. This is this planet's purpose– to come in with something so shocking that through the chaos of the experience, we become closer to a future version of ourselves, a usually (hopefully) better one. Between Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus who are slowly closing the gap between each other, what are you resisting right now? What feels uncomfortable? Who are you reluctant to let into your world? What tasks do you often avoid? What have you told yourself you cannot do? These things are highlighted now, blowing up our previous capacity, upgrading the software, we cannot choose to stay safe and the same to then gripe that our life sucks all in the same breath. This New Moon requires us to risk our comfort somewhere, even if that means removing some things or people from our lives or letting ourselves become revolutionarily vulnerable.
I think it's worth mentioning, the Full Moon counterpart to this New Moon in August of 2024 is quite the transit. Jupiter will be in Gemini by that time and the exact Jupiter-Saturn square perfects on the same day of the Full Moon in Aquarius. This is a reminder that astrology is this large, cyclical, fated, mess, all beautifully and fantastically interconnected. The current 20 year Jupiter-Saturn cycle that we are in began in the sign Aquarius back in December of 2020 and this August 19th will be the first significant hard aspect between these two since then. My mind is broken open by the idea of a Full Moon activating our Aquarius houses as the next phase of this cycle is initiated even as Jupiter and Saturn have moved on into other signs.
Translating the astrological jargon: Full Moons are known as climax moments, the culmination periods for something begun 6 months earlier and we sit in this beginning here and now at the time of the New Moon. Somehow, you'll find this connected to that conjunction back in 2020 as well as the upcoming / in process Plutonian journey in the same sign, which of course, overlaps with the length of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle. Whatever is being asked of you, whatever changes you make this month, they are only the beginning. They are only fueling what you began in this area back in 2020 and they are adding to your evolution until the 2040s. Even the smallest acts will be truly revolutionary when you look back on them. It could be the uncomfortable change that turned the proverbial wheel for you, changing the course of your life– we have all been overcoming limits that used to stand so tall in these houses. Remember, Taurus and Aquarius very much so deal with time, like when the linear and nonlinear collide and it all starts to make sense.
To change is to lose your original identity, it's no wonder we struggle to wrap our minds around it. This New Moon could be a time where you are fighting to hold onto an old piece of yourself even while you have surpassed the circumstances that created that person. Mercurial intimacy could challenge those rules of yours: Stay safe, stay separate. When it is time to be changed, instead of idly allowing change to happen to you, become it, take it wholly as a new part of you. With new awareness comes different action, different action is what may give you a sense of agency over what changes and how it changes and why it changes. When we can remind ourselves "why" and if it is a strong "why", there isn't much that can get in the way.
Some advice for the moment? Accept that whatever is occurring in your life is bit of a longer journey and because of that, you can only see so much of the path you are on. It may be ambiguous, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. Acceptance is a necessity during transits to Aquarius or even with our Aquarius placement friends (they are literal walking Aquarian transits after all). Acceptance for how they are, how it is, why it is, it may not always be a cause you understand, but maybe you can respect it and accept it for the way that it shows up in your life. Acceptance creates intimacy. Acceptance will allow for the future to unfold as it needs to instead of clouding it with resistance. And you know, it's okay to trick yourself into doing the thing, a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down, opening wide for the airplane of hidden vegetables, or getting a "little treat" after folding your laundry– the long journey is more bearable when you stop waiting around for rewards.
Happy New Moon!
Your friendly neighborhood astrologer,
Katie
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