Five planets in Capricorn mark the strong emphasis of that sign’s meaning as we begin the New Year with a New Moon. Mercury, Saturn, Sun, Moon, and Pluto all converge in the sign of responsibility, discipline, commitments, boundaries and restriction. Saturn is the ruling planet of Capricorn, and it famously has been associated with severity, coldness, and even depression. But if we look deeply into the meaning of Saturn as an archetype, it has a purpose, like all the planetary forces, in our lives.

Saturn is also Chronos, the ruler of time. Time is the factor of our reality that informs us we are mortal beings. As we age, we become more and more aware of the fact of life that it is temporary, and one day will become our last day on Earth. In that sense, as we embrace our time-limitation, or you may say, if we embrace our Death as a fact of Life, then we use our time here more efficiently, efficiency being a Saturnian quality. But like any other quality or planetary force, it has its positive and negative valences. Too much efficiency and we become like the Nazis in World War 2, as James Hillman pointed out, who worshipped efficiency to the point of fanaticism. And yet without Saturnian discipline, we flounder and waste our days away, then realize our error, often when it’s too late.

But with a strong Capricorn emphasis now, we can embrace the idea of moving forward into the New Year with a sense of purpose. It’s time to inventory our actions in line with what direction we wish to take in our lives. And since this New Moon is also a solar eclipse (visible only in very Northern polar regions) we are confronted with the shadow contents of our New Year’s resolutions. What stands in the way of our progress? Becoming conscious of our shadow is essential to making use of this lunar cycle. Where do we give away our power? What’s our negative self-talk? Becoming aware of our shadow is a constant process of witnessing, over and over again, when it arises in our thoughts and actions. It’s a meditative practice. And more often than not, trauma is at the heart of our dysfunctionality, and so it is our duty to heal ourselves in order to become a healing force in the world.

On a global scale, eclipses tend to push the envelope to the point where things become so obvious that  change eventually happens. This is exposure time, however an eclipse’s effects are not always manifested  immediately, occurring generally over the months following. In two weeks a lunar eclipse will follow this solar one, which will stir up our emotional content and “finish the job” begun today. We are in a most obvious historical moment of discovering how much power can be abused, how over the course of human history this has ever been the case in all races and governments. But with the extinction of the human race only decades away, we are all suffering from an internal panic reaction that may or may not be conscious. By coming together and sharing our stories, and being of service to the greater collective in our work and in our day to day interactions, we are upholding the Capricorn ideal.

With Saturn and Pluto on either side of the Sun/Moon conjunction, we are not merely entering a speculative field of awareness. We are actually being plunged into an intense karmic roller coaster ride this year, in preparation for 2020, which will be a year of powerful and dramatic planetary alignments. Soon after this New Moon, Uranus, which has been retrograde since August, will go in direct motion, stirring toward action the cries of revolution which are already being heard on the world stage. Uranus will soon be passing into the sign of Taurus (in March of this year), leaving the sign of Aries where it’s been for the last 8 years. Taurus rules the Earth, and our caring for it, and so revolutions (which Uranus rules) based on our caring for the Earth and its delicate ecosystem will most certainly gain a commanding force over the next 6 - 7 years. Saturn also rules karma, as does Pluto, and with these two major players at this New Moon, we must endeavor at all costs to bring conscious awareness to the karmic patterns inherent in our lives. Having your natal astrology chart read (or re-read) is of great value in learning how these patterns manifest in your life. Watch for themes popping up now, and set to work on them. When Saturn and Pluto head toward their karmic conjunction one year from now, we will need to be clear on who we are and what we stand for.

Mars has also just entered Aries (on New Year’s eve) and so for the next month, we can expect things to be jump-started on the world stage. In this country, a strong push against our fascist leadership is to be expected to gain strength. This eclipse opposes the Sun in the birth chart of the US, and squares the US’s Saturn as well. This is pulling on (testing) our identity as a world nation and our ability to remain stable. Watch especially the last week of January and the first week of February when Mars squares Pluto, Moon and Saturn, joining with Uranus. (Mars is an activator planet.)

Meanwhile this is a good time to let go of old stories that may have carried us this far, but are outdated and outmoded. Trump’s desire to build big walls is symbolic of our own feeble attempts to barricade ourselves away from the unknown and unseen forces in our lives. We might just as well look into the eyes of those who represent our shadow, and find that when we give them the light of our hearts, they too can walk out of the darkness.