This is a very powerful New Moon (yes, another!) that is happening at the degree of a cross-quarter day, the point in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun which is half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. Historically this is a rich time, the timing of which was practiced with ceremonies by many cultures in civilizations, including Greek, Roman, Aztec, Iroquois, Pagan and Christian. It’s also the New Moon that marks the Chinese New Year, a time of cleansing and renewal. That it’s happening on Cross-Quarter gives a strong message that this New Moon marks a time to renew ourselves.

If you’ve been feeling the intensity of this upcoming New Moon, it’s been also because this week Mars and Pluto squared off with each other, intensifying our actions (Mars) with a sense of power (Pluto) that, if not carefully handled, could be co-opted by our ego, and make for trouble, difficulties, or a sense of increased anxiety. At this New Moon, Mars is conjoined tightly with Eris, the goddess of chaos and disorder, also joining Uranus in the square to Pluto. So, lots of mischief can occur under this New Moon. We need to center and remain calm, and have the humility to accept whatever lessons come our way during this time. We’re still feeling the effects of the Eclipse season from the last lunar and solar eclipses in January, and so this is a time to take inventory of what you’ve been integrating and perhaps share it with trusted friends.

Meanwhile, the New Moon in Aquarius is a time to join with the spirit of humanity’s Great Turning, to know we are moving into the Age of Aquarius, the beginning (and ending) of a 26,000 year cycle in terms of human awareness and consciousness. It will take some time before we see tangible evidence of the changes, as many of the cultural themes which seem so prominent now, consumerism, materialism, survival mentality, patriarchy, etc. are in their death-throes, and with no seeming replacements. But this is a time to renew our awareness and dedication to the “we” that Aquarius represents, which is the ultimate truth of our existence: our inter-connectedness and our inter-dependence with all life forms, human, animal, plant and Earth itself. While vulgarity and destructive actions claim so much of our media’s attention, in the background of life there are people forming community and friendships which promote our health and well being. We need to go where our soul gets fed and nurtured.

With the strong sextiles (60˚ angles of harmony) in this chart to Jupiter, the planet that rules among other things, expansion, faith and spirituality, we are being asked to solidify and strengthen our beliefs through our connections to those relationships that foster our mental and physical health. This means also embracing  the sense of rightness in our placement in space and time, being born into this chaotic age of humanity’s growth.  With Pluto and Saturn both nearing a conjunction in Capricorn (exact in 2020) it’s wise now to work on clearing out old cynical ideas of futility, and instead find where our faith can take a stronghold in our awareness. What can we believe in? Where in our self-talk do we undermine our sense of confidence in our ability to change, grow, and heal? Aquarius asks us to take a hard look at these issues in our beliefs, to what we “know” to be true. Part of the new paradigm is understanding that our beliefs and what we “know” actually affect reality to a much stronger degree than we are aware of.  What we expect to see the brain will literally create in front of our eyes. Mostly we foster these expectations at an unconscious level. But as we begin to witness these thoughts without judging them, they lose their power over us, and this increases our ability to make more conscious choices.

Being at the end of an epoch is an extreme and restless time, full of loss and changes that cause misery, full of heightened pressure and duplicity from the old guard for things to remain the same. But as we reach out to others, share our thoughts and stories (Aquarius rules communities, groups) and practice being in the present moment, where solutions can be found, we reinforce the Aquarian ideals that we need to not just think about, but put into practice in our daily lives.  As we move more toward 2020, we will need to have these realistic ideals firmly in place in order to navigate the swirling waters of change and the remodeling of our society to create ways of living on Planet Earth that sustain us all.