The New Moon falls at 4 Sagittarius 02 at 7:04 AM PST of the 26th, with both bodies approaching conjunction to asteroid Pallas and trining Chiron. The Lunar event makes a pair of semi-sextiles which place the Moon at the rough midpoint of Mars in Scorpio and Ceres in Capricorn (and so makes Earth the apex of a Finger of God), and quincunxes Uranus. The New Moon also semi-squares the midpoint of transiting Saturn-Pluto, possibly noteworthy as a harbinger of the conjunction of these two in January that we’re all anticipating–and it semi-squares asteroid Zeus, placing the New Moon at the rough midpoint of Saturn-Pluto square Zeus. All these contacts, even the minor and modest ones, are worth exploring, as sometimes meaning is found in the subtlety of things, the interrelationships drawing associations we might otherwise have missed.

What are we looking at here? A smart, wise, or practical new beginning that requires we adjust to learning or experiencing the unexpected or unanticipated, the modern or the revelatory, and that we do so in order to preserve our autonomy, our place with or independent from the group, and/ or the personal power we’ve already established. It heals, or calls on our most unique skills, or both, and may hint at the emotional impact of upcoming changes to the reality picture, especially in terms of potential ambition or desire fulfillment, or its denial.

The New Moon brings an instance of learning something, or experiencing something, likely something we’ve been struggling to ignore or deny or not be consumed with rage by, with actions or choices stirred by events or by the emotional revelation that comes, and these address the scope of our current ability to wield power and affect our environment. We will develop a new attitude, a new philosophy, based on what occurs. Realization will be the big internal change, while we’ll also see material changes that signal the structure of (or structure behind) the ‘new’ power dynamic.

The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘An Old Owl Sits Alone On The Branch Of A Large Tree’. We have Athena’s symbol, the owl, in the image and the namesake asteroid conjoined the New Moon event–who says there isn’t a pattern to all this? The mention of the fact that the owl is alone seems superfluous, as owls are generally solitary creatures, and big sturdy trees their domain. I’m thinking that in this instance the symbol simply alerts us to the wisdom that the Lunar event will contain; it may be so obvious, so much a normal-seeming part of the landscape, that we could miss the smart message it offers, should we be expecting something splashier or more jarring. Characterization of the owl as “old” only reinforces the sense that this is something already around, that we are used to, and so may overlook, and as well, also reinforces the notion that there will be something wise, that is, that comes of experience, for us to take away from the event.