A good week to keep your eyes open: Capricorn New Moon

The year 2014 isn’t wasting any time messing around with ‘boring’ astrology. In fact, this next year gets right down to business from the get-go, with a grand cross in the cardinal signs involving the Capricorn New Moon on New Year’s Day — and all the major players except the Moon are already in place and working their influence.

photo by Amanda Painter
Iced milkweed; photo by Amanda Painter. See a full-size chart of the Capricorn New Moon here.

When there are many major planets lined up in a major aspect, it’s easier to think in terms of broad themes rather than trying to micro-interpret each individual aspect between every planet.

In this case, the overall message of the chart is about taking a giant leap forward. As often happens when faced with big steps, there is the potential for those drifting through life with their eyes closed to experience this as a crisis.

Included in the grand cross alignment are the Sun, Mercury and Pluto in Capricorn, with the Moon ingressing Capricorn at 1:01 pm EST Dec. 31; Uranus in Aries; Jupiter in Cancer; and Mars in Libra. The moment of the New Moon (when the Moon conjoins the Sun) is 6:14 am EST Jan. 1.

Breaking down the major theme of ‘taking a big leap forward’ into its constituent threads, consider the following:

— Mercury is involved. Mercury rules the mind and communication; the message here is ‘think first, act second’.

— Uranus in the sign of ‘I am’ brings an element of surprise. Not everyone enjoys surprises; the key to maneuvering with them is to be flexible — and remembering that you can. Attitude, mindfulness and practicing non-attachment to outcomes all come into play.

— Pluto is involved, in Capricorn no less. Structural changes are on the menu. Again, flexibility is key; can you bend rather than break?

— Mars, planet of volition and desire, is in Libra, the sign of relationships and balance. Anticipate some process of figuring out where you fit into the larger scenario — however you define that.

Pulling the movie camera back out from the personal level to the generational/collective level, consider that this Capricorn New Moon, integrated as it is into the Uranus-Pluto square (the defining aspect of our current age), opens up a whole new volume in the Uranus-Pluto story. Or to use an image Eric mentioned last night, this New Moon puts us “on another slice of the orange.” It’s absolutely connected to what came before and whatever comes after, and it’s not a completely different thing (say, a banana). Yet at the same time, this New Moon opens up some completely new territory.

You’re going to meet some new challenges. You also might be prodded into focusing on some of the old challenges you’ve been avoiding (that goes for our global society, too). We’re being pushed to new limits — but you don’t have to be an astrologer to know that. Just watch the news.

Finally, consider this: this week’s grand cross and New Moon aspects the Sun in the Sibly chart (one of the main natal charts for the United States). Without getting into detail, this indicates a very, shall we say, dynamic or concentrated year for the U.S.

In fact, the cardinal grand cross lines up with the U.S. Sibly chart again in late April — making this week’s New Moon a ‘practice run’ of sorts. What are we practicing for? You may get some hints New Year’s Day. Until then, we’ll continue our exploration of this powerful New Moon here on the blog, including in Eric’s Planet Waves FM broadcast Tuesday evening.

With Eric Francis

31 thoughts on “A good week to keep your eyes open: Capricorn New Moon”

  4. I’m joining you, DivaCarla, Fe and Patty, as my Saturn return is coming up early this year. Opposite my 20 Taurus ascendant. Lots of aspects.
    Looking forward to it, wondering, curious!

    Lots of affection to all from my side of the planet!

  7. Daniel, give me your number. I’ll text you an hour into the party, & if it’s going great, you stay but if it’s awful, you have an excuse to leave. I do this for my best friends all the time 😉

    …then again, if alto-cinque girl is there, it won’t matter what else is going on. Have fun!

  8. DivaCarla, totally! And I just want to say, I think my new friend is alto-cinque! 😉

    …and I am now going to the party. God help me. I’m such a softy…

    🙁

  9. Amanda (and Eric): Thank you for a superb job of interpretive weaving, making not only sense but beauty from a challenging scenario. At this time next year, we will herald this piece as a proven masterpiece.

    Amanda: Speaking of which – a masterpiece of a winter photo. Stary warm, now!

  10. Good company here, Fe and Patty. I am 3 weeks from my exact conjunction of Saturn return, first of 3 with retrogrades. Also Scorpio rising, and Saturn in first house, conjunct asc. I am feeling it. And craving it. This new moon in Cap, with Grand Cross and Saturn return, I want order, structure, and support. I have never had it, or been talented at it. Excited about this time. Excited about Wednesday, and 2014. Not naive about it like I was about 2013, I hope.

    Daniel and all, I hope our thoughts are still a private playground, no matter who, what, or when we are thinking about. If it enhances your and your partner’s experience, and you are still able to connect intimately with your partner, then what’s the problem? Telling is a dicey matter. You get to keep it to yourself. At least, I would.

  11. Flexibility, thinking first, non attachment to outcomes, balance, seeing where you fit into the big picture, bend – don’t break, attention, don’t panic, not a crisis, big leap forward. Got it, thanks, piece of cake! Seriously though, thanks.

  13. Hey, Daniel! Have a great time. Not currently in your orbit…those plants are something else again once you get to know them. Back soon. ((())) nilou.

  15. Thanks nilou and Strawberry! I love your feedback. This really is about me getting in my body and finding what maybe under some layers of denial. This gal was a triple Scorpio and man, we were like… or I was like….

    I remember the day I sent my letter off to India for my formal vow hand back. I was coming back from the post office and it was raining. Guess who I meet? Yeup. And we stood under her umbrella like we knew each other for decades. Anyway……. where was I?

    … oh yeah, the party….. 😉

  16. Well Patty, I take it as “the path” you choose to commit to now is what will last until the Saturn-conjunct Pluto in 2020. You’re almost there baby!
    be

  17. I’ve organised events in different jobs over many years, and eventually I clicked the difference between a ‘good’ event and a ‘great’ event. So I started to play a private game called “how much love we get in this room?” [no nakedness involved, nothing flash either]. That was fun. A bit of feng shui, some flowers, the right music, good colours, all the equipment working, being nice to everyone working on the set-up so no nasty bits of bad vibes to bump into – usual Venus stuff – create the conditions, love, we’re ready for you, and as love knows she’s welcome she just turns up! Resonance and attraction. Like and like. I remember my mother teaching me that if you try to clean flour with water you end up with glue. I was impressed. To clean flour, she explained and demonstrated, use more flour – and when all the big lumps of flour are cleared, then you can ‘finish’ with water.

  18. Patty:

    Saturn Scorp (in the 9th) is a pain, but its been a lifelong pain but not so big that I can’t handle it, so I am used to the motto “Nothing comes without hard work.” I am willing to put the time into it. And my 5 Cap Node in the 11th keeps me at the grindstone. Brrr, grrr, grrr….

    As for the boots, my girl, you are a good egg!!

  19. …community and communion…what is the difference? I recognise differences but how do we get to have the necessary conversations (apart from on PW:).

  20. Thank you for your comment, Patty. It’s so funny, but then everything today is hitting my funny spot in a nice gentle way. Once I sat down and tried to make proper sense of my chart, (I’m glad that had put in a good few orbits by then) I was shocked! The chart made perfect sense, and the world much less. Oh, sin and sex, are they the ‘wrong’ way around in my being or in the world…etc. etc. sooo funny….

  21. Fe, apparently we share a link in the scorpio Saturn. My rising sign is in early scorpio, so the whole past 5 years has been a doozy since my return was at Virgo 29, 12th house in Libra and now Scorpio. I feel like I’m rising from a cloud of ash, and thought perhaps the worst was behind us. What has me feeling even more weird is the fact I always thought I was a libra rising, then my mother said no you were born closer to 9 p.m. Mysti said I should shave my head and go into a monastery. LOL.

    So Be, are you saying this will carry on until Saturn conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn? yikes. That’s quite a ways out, but yes indeed, I can almost feel some sort of permanent change coming. Fe, my kids don’t want anything made by slave labor and they are really vocal about it (ages are 35 and 40), but I’ll remember this as the year I bought snow boots for all the fatherless children in my family in November, instead of Christmas gifts.

  25. nilou, I love your response to Daniel. I had been thinking something along the lines of “how free are you within the confines of your own mind?” Do we owe our innermost thoughts to the Other? Empire, as wandering-yeti often calls it, says “Yes, you owe everything to Other; owning any aspect of your self is sedition.”

    There was a wonderful comment thread I chanced across some time ago on here, regarding whether we should ask permission of the person whose image/energies/persona we use to get off. In ways, I think it would be kinda sweet — you’re telling someone they light your fire; that’s nice to hear (it would totally depend on your relationship to that person, obvi!). But in other ways, there are some things we get to keep to ourselves. Like, when the person you’re with physically isn’t speaking your body’s language. I expect, if you’ve got a permanent stand-in, there may be an issue. …unless maybe there isn’t.

    There is so much control exerted over us when it comes to sexuality, much of it being experienced as shame. I think curiosity about where that shame/guilt/etc comes from & whom it benefits would be a good place to start looking when you’re trying to decide if what you feel is “okay” to feel.

  26. My upcoming Solar Return is on the cross. Ouch. Shining through the 6th house with Leo rising, it looks like a breakthrough. Into what? I’ve been practicing for something, obviously. The last of the Uranus Pluto squares happens with Pluto on my Sun in 2015. I think 14 will be the main year that the aspect flowers…or explodes. Yeah, those who don’t bend and flex with this storm will break. I used to break down a lot more often from being stiff. I’m glad for the teachers who appeared in my life just as Pluto entered Capricorn back in 2008. The more I’ve simplified and let go of the pile of stuff I used to consider my security the better things have gone. It’s hard to flex when you’ve got an existing empire to protect.

  27. Best wishes to all,

    It’s all in that one question isn’t it, Daniel? It’s all there – knowledge, power, sex, values, thought, mind, feelings, relationship, relating, agreements, assumptions, presuppositions, authority, social and cultural relations, control, creative expression, body-mind and spirit-soul, autonomy, authenticity, reproduction, re-creation, morality, ethics, communication, information, and the nature of reality…all the interesting stuff…(from my point of view). nilou

  28. Fe and all,

    Transiting Saturn has been, and still is in an aspect with transiting Pluto called a septile (51+ degrees separating) which Robert Wilkinson says is a “fork in the road of destiny”. It gives you a choice to go one way or another down a path that will end when Saturn conjuncts Pluto and a new path begins. The septile doesn’t work with rational thinking, but more with irrational feeling. We all are subject to this aspect these days but for you Fe, with your Saturn return, it is especially “real” (a Saturn thing) so that disorientation might stem from this particular aspect.
    be
    p.s. you aren’t alone re: cash strapped and unloading all that isn’t vital to your existence, so I guess it’s the Scorpio part and the Pluto part (and Saturn being in Pluto’s sign and Pluto being in Saturn’s sign) that is pushing us in that direction. Who else but Saturn (and Capricorn) could make us do all this work, huh?

  29. Patty: I am so there with your post, and have been strongly feeling this upcoming New Moon with a vengeance. Prepping for family Christmas, I asked the kids whether they wanted stuff or experiences this Christmas. Both said “experiences”, which lightened the weight on my finances quite a bit!! Same with brother in law. Sister? Well that’s another story.

    Went through my closets and cleared out all the garments I haven’t used in years, and in cleaning out the pockets, found $25 in an old rain jacket I had crumpled up in the corner of my closet! Swept our under the bed and found lots of loose change which all gets consolidated in my piggy bank!

    This Christmas, I have been cash strapped having had to pay for a fuel pump replacement in my car and extenuating costs so that I would have transportation for the Thanksgiving weekend. Rent was late and tight because of this. Had to borrow from family to make ends meet post-Christmas.

    Vowing to not eat out, not even cheap takeout this year. This works because I’m changing my diet and working out more, so I really don’t need or want any more rich food.

    Having dumped a lot of crap out of my little house and making everything more streamlined in my bedroom has made me disoriented, but maybe that’s also because of the dark moon.

    And to sum this all up perfectly, Saturn is exactly conjunct my natal Saturn, moving away by inches as the New Year Approacheth. I see it all clearly, from Thanksgiving to now. Time to get one’s shit really together. It’s about the body, the soul, what I’m taking in, what I’m giving away, and where to cut giving away too much energy and overextending. I am looking at where I need to be next year, which is accelerating my art and creative life for Phase two of my career life in my sixties and seventies. Going to be an amazing ride, that 2014. Got to lighten up the load to take the trip.

  30. This was very helpful! I’m mulling over going to a NYE party, but I don’t know anyone, I don’t know how many people will be there, or what the climate will be like. I do not like loud drinking parties and I fear being stuck in some awkward situation looking at the floor with a glass of water in my hand saying yet again, “what the hell am I doing here?”. Frankly, with so much tension in the air, I’d prefer to stay home and have some peace and quiet. So, that’s what I said and I asserted that softly as my preference. But what if it was a great bunch of people with cool music and nice wine with good convo? I would never know.

    And another question: has anyone fantasized about being with someone other than the person you’re having sex with?

  31. Don’t know why, but I’m thinking financial change. When we got married 40 years ago we didn’t have a general credit card. I think we had a sears card for tools, tires and appliances, nearly everyone did. The spending limit was around $250. With the coming aspects, I declare materialism to be dead. Someone on FB just said they know someone who spends $20 a week on lottery tickets, and as she was scratching them off, she said woo-hoo! I just won $7.00! He said, you mean you only lost $13? How did we succumb so thoughtlessly to marketers for so many years? It’s like we are completely blind. Target might be the first victim of the square, but I’m reviewing our TV, Phones, Internet and a number of other ways to stop giving away the money. We also saw an article in the paper about telemarketers who call for donations. Hardly any money passes on to the charity, so why is it even allowed? From now on, I’ll donate directly to the fireman’s boot on Labor Day, the Salvation Army pot, my church (who supports many worthy missions and food kitchens), and whatever other charities capture my heart and soul. My New Year’s Resolutions will be about managing money with a hard right turn (square aspect) away from foolish spending. $20 per week for 52 weeks is $1040, a tax income number. Interestingly, the 5 in numerology (1+4) can be shown as the unstable nature of duality (negative aspect), or it can be divine. Money is a force for good, but many of us just spend it indiscriminately, and/or are enslaved to debt.

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