by Matthew Kenney
Nature of the New Moon
On January 24th at 4:22PM Eastern Standard Time the moon will be reborn at 4 degrees Aquarius.
New moons occur whenever the moon has completed her journey around the earth and come round again to conjoin the sun in the sky.
Astrologically, new moons indicate new beginnings.
The moon washes herself clean of the previous energies that she picked up from the other planets and starts afresh.
Whatever energies and themes the last month emphasized, the moon purges herself of them and becomes reborn in the fires of sun.
No longer a crone, and now a maiden again, the moon becomes primed for a new cycle, filled with possibility and excitement for what the future holds.
Think about the people in your life who were born under a new moon.
You will probably notice that they carry with themselves a greater portion of child-like joy, enthusiasm, and optimism about the future than the rest of us.
This sort of personality trait reflects the fact that new moons also carry this kind of hope for the future and the possibilities it contains.
On a purely magical level, as the moon wanes and becomes devoid of her light, the stage is set to for the new direction and agenda of the next lunar cycle to take over.
The seeds and intentions planted at the last new moon have culminated, their fruit has ripened, and the leftovers have fertilized the soil, making it ready for new seeds and intentions to come again.
As such, the moon becomes a tabula rasa for our own intentions and desires – this is thus the best time astrologically to do any intention-setting ceremonies, begin new projects, and get clear on where you want to go in life.
Of course, every new moon carries a unique energy, as the planets becomes differently aligned and the sun occupies a new zodiac sign from the previous month.
This new moon occurs within the sign of Aquarius.
Nature of Aquarius
Aquarius translates as water-bearer from Latin, and its classical Greek name, Hudrokhoös, means the same, as is typified by its association with The Star card in the tarot, where a compassionate – yet dispassioned and distant – woman gathers water to be used for healing.
In the cycle of the year in the northern hemisphere where astrology was developed, we enter Aquarius season when we are single-mindedly moving away from the winter solstice, the darkest point of the year, back towards the summer.
Even though the nights are longer than the days and we are fighting an uphill battle back towards the light.
And herein lies the essence of the sign – Aquarius is objective and high-minded, primarily concerned with ideals, especially the humanitarian sort.
Aquarius is most concerned with what could be and even what should be – it sees the ideal, the platonic form, and will communicate this vision to those who can enact it on earth.
The desire to heal and purify the world is present, but in a way that is more clinical and detached, and less attuned to the realities of living in the material world.
For classical astrologers and magicians, Aquarius was the daytime home of Saturn.
As Saturn is the furthest visible planet from the Earth, he is closest of all the planets to the realm of the heavens and the other side of the veil.
As such, he becomes associated with the wild, untamable forces of spirit which tear down structures and individual ego, and with death, as he is the ferryman who takes us from the material world to the empyrean realms.
Aquarius represents the part of Saturn that can use this connection to the other side as a conduit and portal for insights, inspiration, and ideals to reveal themselves to us from the other realms.
We can enter into heaven – not to stay there, but to bring something back that will heal humanity and move our society forward.
Selflessness is a big theme here, as we do not make this journey for ourselves, but for something greater than us and beyond us.
The New Moon in Aquarius
To have a new moon in Aquarius is to have a new vision, a new goal, for where you would like to go throughout the rest of the year.
Each of us will have the opportunity to get clear on what we truly want for ourselves in this next year.
There is also a greater potential for you to receive messages from the other side – not messages about your own life and identity necessarily, but messages about what you can do and what you can offer to other people.
If you are doing an intention-setting ceremony on the new moon, it will be most expedient to set intentions that relate in some way to your mindset and attitudes, as the air nature of Aquarius will support this more than setting concrete goals.
I recommend getting clear on what you have to offer humanity, what your gifts are, and what you can give back to the world, as both the moon and Saturn will reward you for privileging others and the group over yourself and your own needs.
Save your more personal intentions for the new moon in Aries.
This new moon will occur in a whole-sign conjunction with Mercury at 13 Degrees Aquarius.
The process of integrating the energy with the new moon will be easier for you if you do it in
communication with another person.
Don’t keep your ideas and thoughts to yourself – share them with others, online, over the phone, or in person.
At the same time, Mars will be sextiling Mercury almost exactly from 14 degrees Sagittarius, bringing a lot of passion and intensity to an otherwise cold and clinical Mercury.
The easy nature of the sextile will ensure that any conversations you have with others around this time don’t degenerate into petty philosophical quarrels but instead provide some heat to get the
conversation going.
People with sun, moon, or ascendant in one of the air signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius) or in Leo will be positively affected by this new moon in a strong way.
For the Air signs, shifts in thinking and perspective are something that comes more easily to you, and the constructive change of direction that this new moon asks of you should not be difficult to integrate.
For Leo, the emphasis on selflessness will jive with your naturally giving self.
On the other hand, the energy of this new moon may be challenging to those with a lot of Scorpio and Taurus energy, where abstract notions of the greater good and focusing on ideals can be counterintuitive.
Just remember that selflessness and privileging the other does not need to happen at the detriment or the dismissal of your own personal needs, physical or emotional.
it’s not an either/or; giving is receiving.
Check your own natal chart to see which house this new moon falls in.
The house placement will determine the area of life in which outside events related to this new moon will arise most strongly.
This is easy to do with whole-sign houses so long as you know your rising sign: just count however many number of signs from your rising sign to aquarius, and that’s the house In which it will fall.
Taurus rising will have the new moon in their 10th house, Sagittarius rising in
the 3rd , Pisces in the 12th , etc.
IN CONCLUSION
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About the Author:
Matthew Kenney has studied classical astrology for six years. Formally educated in philosophy, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit, Matthew has devoted his mind to the investigation of ancient spiritual practices, in particular astrology and the hermetic tradition. Utilizing his passion for ancient philosophy, languages, and spirituality, he strives to enliven the astrological wisdom of the ancient for our modern day. You can learn more at ancientastrology.org, where he provides coaching to online entrepreneurs and business owners, in addition to offering free articles and astrological forecasts.
