New Moon in Aquarius & Slightly Beyond ~January 21, 2023
I have been writing these Major Arcana / Astrological Zodiac overlay posts and then writing about corresponding planets moving through the zodiac sign at the time of writing and aspects being formed to each ruling body. Cancer is the natural ruler of the Moon. With no current luminaries, major asteroids, or ecliptic points in Cancer, I’ve chosen instead to focus on writings about the New Moon in Aquarius and how that energy develops into the following day. On January 22, 2023 the dance embodying The Chariot archetype will be held by Ritual Movement 555 in Asheville,
New Moon in Aquarius on January 21, 2023
The New Moon occurs Saturday, January 21st at 3:51 PM EST at 1 degree and 33 minutes of Aquarius. New Moons mark the beginning of the lunar cycle, and as such the sign and astrology of each New Moon gives us a sense of both that day and the nature of the 4 week lunar cycle that follows. In the future-oriented sign of Aquarius, this New Moon is a beautiful time to vision into the future for yourself and the wider world. With this New Moon conjunct to our very late Pluto at 28° Capricorn 19’, we would benefit from going into the depths of our pain for some clearing on this day as the Moon progresses through Capricorn. Clearing out our wounds gives us space for the visioning energy of Aquarius.
The Moon in Aquarius loves connecting with others: the people within a group you may not have the deepest relationship with but hold affinity for, or those people, creatures, and causes who may be left the side by society. It loves those who do life differently, and takes emotional pleasure in doing so itself. When necessary, it will let go of people, places, and things unneeded with an astonishingly clean cut. While this might feel abrupt, it gives space for unique people, opportunities, and scenarios to come in.
This New Moon may express itself in emotionally sensing the support of others in confidently moving forward with the ideas we have been synthesizing over the past several weeks. Jupiter in Aries forms a sextile to the New Moon, Mars in Gemini trines the Moon, and the two red planets sextile one another. What might it feel like to move with such consonant support, as if the winds were at our feet and the fires of our spirits and our will? However, we may mentally feel a bit out of touch with all this optimistic forward motion with Mercury still at an awkward angle (quincunx) to Mars. With Mercury having recently stationed direct on the 18th, we may just barely start to make some slow progress with our thoughts on matters as well.
Moon Aspects the evening of January 22, 2023
At 6:15 pm EST on the evening of Sunday January 22 the moon will have progressed to 18° Aquarius. It forms a conjunction with Venus & Saturn, which will perfect the next morning. Just a bit earlier in the evening, at 5 pm, Venus and Saturn will have formed a perfect conjunction at 24° Aquarius 47’ - we will have been feeling this potentially serious relational tone since Jan 18 and will continue through the 26th. In these times, play with what it might be like to step into your sensuality (Venus) in a new way (Aquarius) to release from expectations (Saturn). Being in an unusual structured container with others (another Saturn in Aquarius expression) could be a great way to work with this energy. As the Moon progresses further into this conjunction, we may feel ourselves emotionally committing to our visions of future relationships, both the ones we are in currently and what versions they may later take on and new ones to come in.
Cancer, the natural ruler of the Moon, rules the stomach, our gut feelings. This encourages us to move from our innermost selves. With the Moon in Aquarius, this may be experienced as connected to others across distance of some sort and depending on where you have Aquarius in your chart (the New Moon on the 21st conjuncts my natal Sun) it could feel connecting to yourself across whatever distance you may place between yourself and your own experience. As Aquarius rules the ankles, play around with what your gut says with the ways in which they move.
I Have to Mention Uranus Stationing Direct on January 22!
At 5:58 pm EST on Sunday January 22 Uranus stations direct at 14° Taurus 57’. Uranus has been traveling in retrograde motion since August 25, 2022 after reaching 18° Taurus 55’. Uranus spends nearly half of every year retrograde, as do Neptune and Pluto, so while it may not hold as much significance as some retrogrades (Venus and Mars are especially significant) it can be important depending on the angles formed in your chart where the retrogrades and stations direct occur. As one expression of Uranus is our collective nervous system, we may be have been finding ways to ground ourselves (Taurus wants us to find inner peace, ultimately) in the light of huge changes in our physical world (inflation, Roe v. Wade overturned, we could go on and on). Over these last few months, and perhaps that grounding may be seen in our outer lives a bit more in the coming months as we encounter the next set of lessons with this planet as it shakes up the most stable parts of our lives. Experiment with grounding, or shaking that grounding up in your movement practices around this time!
To read more about Uranus in Taurus, check out Uranus in Taurus: At the Halfway Mark
Explore the overlay of the archetypes of The Chariot & Cancer (and somewhat the Moon)