The New Moon in Capricorn perfects on January 12th at 5:57am CST. The Sun and the Moon are conjoined at 20º of Capricorn 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 two Full Moons in Capricorn on June 21st 2024 and another on July 21st 2024 bringing a turning point to the cycle. The cycle completes itself, waning and beginning again, on December 30th 2024 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 at 20º Capricorn square Nodal axis at 20º Aries-Libra (0º orb, separating)
• Mars at 5º Capricorn trine Jupiter at 5º Taurus (0º orb)
• Mars at 5º Capricorn sextile Saturn at 4º Pisces (1º orb, separating)
• Jupiter at 5º Taurus sextile Saturn at 4º Pisces (1º orb)
• Sun-Moon at 20º Capricorn trine Uranus rx at 19º Taurus (1º orb, separating)
• Mercury at 27º Sagittarius square Neptune at 25º Pisces (3º orb, separating)
• Sun-Moon at 20º Capricorn sextile Neptune at 25º Pisces (5º orb)
• Sun-Moon at 20º Capricorn conjunct Pluto at 29º Capricorn (9º orb)
Delineation:
"Miscellany" is a word that comes to mind for this New Moon. You know that one drawer that you have, you may call it "the junk drawer", with all of those seemingly mismatched things? Everything in that drawer is purposeful and in that, there is a likeness. In their discard, their rejected nature, there is a partnership among them. You might have chapstick, a sharpie, and thumbtacks all in the same place. They have no reason to be together other than the fact that there is no better place for them except for right there, frozen in time until their next use.
It reminds me of something my three siblings and I have been playing together, The New York Times game, Connections. Only one of us is good at it out of the four, the rest of us bitch and moan through it because THEY TRICK YOU, ON PURPOSE, FOR FUN! The object of the game is to group words by topic, but often, there are multiple possibilities for particular words. It's sometimes impossible to discern which goes where and why. This is all very Mercury square Neptune. Seeing many perspectives and possibilities, all of them but the correct one, of course!
Anyway, I'm calling this New Moon the "junk drawer" of transits because we have The Sun and Moon at the nodal bendings, Mercury squaring Neptune, Pluto near by, but we also have Mars sextile Saturn and trine Jupiter, the New Moon sextile Neptune, and then the wild card, the New Moon trine Uranus. I don't mean to imply that squares are "bad" and sextiles and trines "good" because that's really all matter of perception. However, we have pairings here that don't really go with one another and yet, they all have a purpose and they all know their purpose, but we may not know how useful they are yet or why we need duct tape next to an extra pack of gum and a sewing kit. Still, they're all in the same drawer, at the same time, waiting for you, and it was you that put them there. Something about this transit is very "If you give a mouse a cookie..."
Mercury square Neptune is a difficulty with understanding and perceiving the truth of some reality. It can be the thing that veils the "how" and we've now had three contacts between these two with Mercury's retrograde. Mercury squared Neptune on November 26th, December 26th, and for a final time on January 8th. There's been this story building, it's the "yeah, but how?" where can I find all of these miscellaneous things? What do I even look for first? Why can I not find these things anywhere else I've looked for them? I'm looking at my GPS and it's taken me 20 miles in the wrong direction. There's been a glitch.
Around November 26th, it's likely that we saw the first emergence of confusion, emotionally heightened conversations, a disordered perspective, a repeating pattern rearing its hopeless head. By December 26th, maybe we've finally thought to check the junk drawer, twiddling around in the kitchen looking for the light switch in the dark, something from the subconscious has emerged and we're looking closer! But where's the light? Now we've finally made it past January 8th and we've located the light switch, we're going through the junk drawer and right now, some of it really does seem like just... junk. Like, why do I have 10 zip ties, a dead battery, and a half eaten granola bar in here?
Except, as you thumb through the too muchness of the drawer, you find the very thing you've been missing. Some reality you've been ignoring is exactly the right answer, but maybe before, you could only meet it with fear. Maybe before, it didn't make sense why you'd need it, but now you're so grateful for it.
New Moons are cyclical beginnings, but this one being ruled by ancient Saturn indicates that something isn't so new. It's been there, frozen in time, sitting in the dusty drawer, waiting for rediscovery. Waiting for you to see its use, its value. Getting so sick and bored of your old stories and escapism and avoidance and finally checking the drawer of things you reject. The possibilities you've shut down. This lunation is trine Uranus, the planet of foresight, of realization, of epiphany. The root word of "realization" is "real" as in "reality" as in... a tangible thing. A realization is only found in what already exists. It isn't something born out of thin air, matter is always matter, it cannot be created or destroyed. An epiphany is only a recognition of what has been there all along. It's cliche, but you never needed a map, you are the map– when the GPS took you 20 miles in the wrong direction you already knew deep down that it didn't make sense to be here when you wanted to be over there. There is an inner voice dying to be heard, but it's in the thing being avoided, the thing that makes you scream internally (or externally), the thing you try to pretend is not a thing. It's the matter you attempt to destroy instead of transmute.
This, to me, is the Sun and Moon at the nodal bendings. These are usually moments of crisis, of need, of wounding, of fate. It forces you to step out of whatever that thing was that you hid in the junk drawer, deciding to use it for something else. Maybe it used to be a weapon someone held against you and now it's a tool. We can't forget Pluto at 29º Capricorn, 2024 is an entire year of transition into a new 20 year cycle, but that means closing out final lessons from the last 15 years. It means deciding to own something so that it cannot own you. Mars in Capricorn sextile Saturn and trine Jupiter is helping us do the hard thing, it motivates us to come up with the solution. It's likely that you've been feeling limited, trapped in something. It could be trivial, like a busy work schedule, and yet it signifies so much more to you. The wasted hours on your commute, the boss that disrespects, the other things you want to be doing but feel you can't or shouldn't, the existential crisis of "running out of time". This dread is what leads to the pivot. It's the legs that have fallen asleep on pins and needles that force you to explore, to walk around. The boredom that urges you to pick up a book seeding your next brilliant idea. The loneliness that ushers you into the support group. The dry bank account that not-so-gently inspires you to try something new. Except, again it isn't really new at all. It's just improved.
This New Moon, we don't have to repeat the past. Just because something is being asked of us again doesn't mean it will be like last time. Perhaps you have a goal, you just don't know how to get there, this is a time where you may begin to understand the how, the why, it all may begin to make sense. (Hint: The house you have Pisces is important to this, maybe it's even the solution to it all).
Happy New Moon.
Your friendly neighborhood astrologer,
Katie