Dr Neil Clifton / ‘Witches Galore’ at Newchurch 1978 / CC BY-SA 2.0

I’m really not into that whole binary, opposites, yay or nay way of seeing the world, but today may present us with a gentle mixing of two theoretically opposing influences, and normally I would counsel, “Sort them out,” but not this time. We’ll feel the urges toward both power expression and submission to a greater force, the urge to destroy and the urge to transform, we’ll dwell on injustices large and small, on what’s been forgotten or ignored, on hurts and their elimination, and all of it will come in the course of just going after what we want–and the most advantageous thing we can do is open to it all, allow it to wash over us, and most important, refuse to pass judgment on any of it. Let go of the negative/ positive designations, don’t put yourself under pressure to define, pronounce, or critique, accept it all as worthy of both existing and receiving your attention, and the way forward will be laid out for you, crystal clear–and you may be amazed that you didn’t see it that way, before. If you insist on dividing the world and your perceptions into light and dark, up and down, black and white, expect to be confronted by nothing but one solid shade of gray.

The New Moon occurs at 1:04 PM PST of the 4th at 15 Aquarius 45, and tells its story quietly, largely through midpoint pictures, as it falls midway in a sextile between Saturn and Neptune, and midway between a square of Venus and Chiron–but if we think for a moment, we realize that means Earth is apex to both a Finger of God (with the sextiling planets as base) and a Fist of God (or Thor’s Hammer, with the square planets as base). Right away this tells us something interesting: that though we’re used to New and Full Moons having largely emotional impacts, this time the brunt of the event shows up materially, in the physical world or in the nature of what surrounds us, tangible or intangible (the intangible in this case meaning the circumstances around us, the mental and emotional lay of the land).

The material situation will change or see a new direction, then, that may come from physical events, or that is the result of emotional ones. Since a New Moon is a start, a birth, a new direction by its very nature, we can expect change, and in Aquarius the event may be something startlingly new, a catching-up-with-the-times thing, or an imposition of the modern, or could show us what happens when the intellectual is applied to the environment. Too, this could suggest some will feel alienated from their own emotions, as the NM events play out, bringing a delayed reaction, an ‘I just didn’t know how to stop it’ reflection later, or a situation where an individual can’t yet react, because they don’t yet know how they feel.

The New Moon’s also widely conjoined Mercury (but really, only the Moon will care to catch up anytime soon, making Mercury in relation to the NM event more an idea that you already had, that shows up at the New Moon); our attention, then, will go the the sextile and the square, and what they promise. The sextile/ base of the Finger of God that catches the New Moon at its midpoint suggests dreams, visions, imaginings, hallucinations, nightmares (Neptune) made real (Saturn); the square/ base of the Fist of God that puts the New Moon at its midpoint suggests something that has the urgency of an emergency surrounding either skill deployment or the wounded nature (Chiron at 29 degrees), with this expressing through Art, relationships, or financial choices (Venus), possibly ones that locks us into obligations, contracts, or a system or framework within which we must work (Capricorn). For both cases, the apex planet Earth sits in Leo, implying that this will bring forward personal, individual situations that may challenge the Self-image, identity, ego, or the unique greater purpose the individual serves.

The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘A Big Businessman At His Desk’. Again, the theme of worldly involvement and material results, with the individual as the driving force. In this particular case, we need also to look at the Earth’s Sabian: ‘The Storm Ended, All Nature Rejoices In Brilliant Sunshine’. At the very least, this promises that New Moon outcomes will clear up the environment/ atmosphere, very likely offering positive prospects ahead, the promise of ‘smooth sailing’ under clear skies.

(Along with the New Moon, we see Vesta parallel Ceres, Pluto nov Vesta, Mercury conj and parallel Black Moon Lilith, nov Chiron, and trine Zeus)

Though we don’t usually, we have a word image that I think will apply through to the next New Moon: the phrase ‘Juno therapeutics’. Ever since I saw it on the side of a building I’ve been thinking about what therapies the goddess might recommend. I toyed with things like Juno seeing revenge as therapeutic, or maybe owning your very own peacock! I think the broadest ideas are most applicable, those surrounding owning one’s own power, exercising prerogatives to the fullest, being keenly aware of from whom or what one’s power derives, and perhaps most important of all, don’t give commands or require things from others you have no power to enforce–that only drains the power you do have and acts as a breeding ground for resentment and vengeful circumstances.