The New Moon occurs at 9 Aquarius 51 at 4:35 AM PST, widely conjoined (but moving away from) another separating aspect, a conjunction of Mercury to Pluto, both within the first three degrees of the sign. This scenario tells a story of a recent past where we received devastating, destructive, and transformative communications, thoughts, ideas, that we were first made aware of a scant week+ before. Well, we all know what happened 10 days ago, and this has completely changed what we’re seeing in the world. The Aquarian age itself has taken on a formidable air, Pluto teasing rage, rebirth, and massive, permanent change, while this New Moon offers a dawning recognition that the Uranian future we’ve been speculating about is now.

There’s rebellion, and then there’s rebellion, with chaos and anarchy used as both a tool and a weapon, the surprise being it’s fostered as much by those with power as without. We tend to think of the act of revolt as creating two clear sides and as more than justified, a ‘reached our limit’ way to throw off the yoke of tyranny and the restraints of a social order too far out of balance–but when there are many sides, all claiming they’re justified, all claiming they’re victims, is it any wonder that what is unique or new or unusual is mistaken for that which is truly revolutionary? That’s where we are right now, the recent reveals first shocking and then causing either rage or celebration (depending on your vision of the Uranian future unfolding)–and with everybody believing they’re redressing wrongs, restoring fairness. One thing to remember is that the just passed Merc-Pluto conjunction showed us ‘The Truth’–but it’s our relationship to Uranian Higher Mind, to the capacity of the intellect, and the possibility it may argue for beliefs already believed, rather than the grit of reality, that determines whether we meet the New Moon new starts with a mentality that serves the Greater Good, or one that serves the individual needs only.

The crisis is shown by the Nodal axis, North in Pisces, South in Virgo, at 29 degrees, and so feeling the pressure to abandon the practical and workable (SN in Virgo) for a chance at making the ideal real (NN in Pisces). That’s the motivator, but we must be careful; the road to you-know-where is paved not just with good intentions, but with those attempts at genuine reform taken often as not for the right reasons, that fail because there was too much Pisces in the vision, not enough Virgo down-to-Earth details–but those are the people who meant well, who didn’t succeed but also didn’t harm. How do we handle those who disrupt in order to take advantage, to disenfranchise, to, in a worst case scenario, steal?

The New Moon in Aquarius says we do it by having a clear mentality focused on Higher Mind beliefs that take the new, the unusual, the unexpected, and surface our own unique strengths in response; the changes may be disruptive, disorienting, upsetting, and feel out-of-control, but it’s in knowing our own priorities, knowing what we truly believe in and see as important, that we are able to craft a perfect, and highly disciplined, answer to change. It’s a cutting loose (or, more likely, forcing loose) from old constraints that allows a synchronization of the instinctual and the revolutionary–without ever losing sight of the bigger picture, and the ultimate desired outcome. The message is: trust yourself. You’ll know just how to respond, and you’ll find you have everything you need, inside you and at your fingertips.

There are a couple of contacts worth noting: a semi-square of the New Moon to Venus in Pisces. This aspect is the farthest the Sun and Venus ever are apart, suggesting maximum strain, maximum ‘love lost’ around the New Moon beginnings. The New Moon also trines Jupiter, magnifying all our perceptions; this should be reassuring: things aren’t as bad, or as absolute in either direction, as they might currently seem. Vesta is conjoined Hekate, both at 9 Scorpio, and so square the New Moon. Scorpio again suggests the Truth is in play, with the wayshower (Hekate) using what we are dedicated to (Vesta) as our way of measuring whether what we do and choose is correct, or off the mark.

We also see a couple eloquent placements, the New Moon conjoined Icarus and opposed Karma. So, a bit of a warning, with a great big promise: don’t overdo, don’t fly too high, but in any case, what arrives in the wake of this Lunar moment will in some way be entirely deserved, entirely justified–and if that looks negative to you, you need to think about how the Universe is always working in your favor, and trying to steer you right–anything removed opens the way for something better, and any challenge simply requires you to know what matters.

The Sabian symbol needs no elaboration: ‘A Man Who Had For A Time Become The Embodiment Of A Popular Ideal Is Made To Realize That As A Person He Is Not This Ideal’. I rest my case.

That’s a little dramatic, isn’t it? Maybe it should be something like, ‘Isolated in (or by) our own minds’, or in its most benign form, ‘Alone with our thoughts’. The Moon in the sign of the intellect is always a little uncomfortable (though more easily tolerated by those who live with a natal meld of Water/ Air or who have the Moon in an Air sign); there’s a quite natural struggle to parse feeling from thinking, and knowing the difference depends almost entirely on how clear we are about our own feelings.

We shouldn’t forget that the ancient ruler of Aquarius is Saturn, suggesting the potential for fear or depression to arise from emotional discomfort. It’s a mistranslation of feeling, the emotions taking a negative form of Aquarian shape, and probably taking a form that distracts you and so prevents you knowing what that true feeling is. That means you miss how you feel about something important, or vital, or simply right in front of you, because the mind is too busy looking out for what you fear will appear, or what you fear will oppress you. It’s a way of protecting yourself from being uncomfortably clear on reality–which says you’re hiding from some facts or situation you desperately need to be aware of.

New Moons are new beginnings, and with this New Moon in Aquarius we can plant a seed of awareness, begin to embrace intellectual understanding of some issue, or lay plans to take a chance, rebel, revolutionize ‘the system’. The NM is widely conjoined Pluto in Capricorn, and opposed the Black Moon Lilith point, suggesting that what we may see is new thought or understanding (NM in AQ) springing from the termination, destruction, or resurgence of a framework, system, or set of standards or rules (PL in CAP). This shift, whether it’s obliteration or a re-birth, allows us to uncover what’s been ignored, denied, or has enraged many in material matters (BML-Earth), and in so acknowledging make the first steps toward true change. We can’t change what we don’t see and admit the existence of; that’s a painful part of the energy of transformation that can then lead to healing.

We might also experience this New Moon as a time to shake things up, to be the rebel–but don’t fool yourself, even if it seems the group is behind you, you’ll end up going it alone–and again, any unusual stir may be camouflaging genuine feeling, re-directing the energy that should go to processing this emotion into a ’cause’ or a sense of righteousness that will totally distract from the actual emotional issue at hand.

There’s also a wide out-of-element trine to Sedna and a sextile to Jupiter-Juno in Aries, both of which suggest, in the most general terms, that efforts must be made to sort instinct from social conditioning, personal autonomy from the need to parent or supervise, and to sort out who holds authority, who’s in charge, in any situation–and this is so even if you’re someone who’s not looking to boss anyone around. The aloneness we may find ourselves trying to go beyond will either be an emotional and mental ‘prison’, tormenting us as we fail to reach others, or can become a chance at quiet introspection, making the mind a meditation chamber instead of a torture one.

Now, that struggle for the Moon in Aquarius in knowing what’s a feeling, what’s a thought, is ongoing, though it becomes the environment for all of us each time Luna passes through the sign. A New Moon here promises us the chance to hold something in the mind in a clear, new light. With the current dearth of New Moon aspects, though, we may feel a potential sense of isolation, even confinement–the ‘prison’ of the title–with no easy means of reaching out to or communing with others–even as those tussles over who holds authority blossom. Growing awareness of the new means we are that much more focused on the fact that we are discovering, learning the facts, on our own, in a way that makes it difficult to share our experience, and so alleviate any unsteadiness or doubt or fear. Awareness of the social sphere (Jupiter) and any power struggles that may come along (Jupiter-Juno) only enhances our sense of separation from others. It’s a wee bit strange, a wee bit uncomfortable, but the process is one that is meant to spark reform and help us learn to trust our own instincts and those things we, deep inside, ‘know but don’t know’ (Sedna).

The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘An Unexpected Thunderstorm’. There’s Uranus, ruler of Aquarius, in both the unexpected nature of what will occur, and in the symbol of the thunderstorm–so a bit of rough weather, the kind that’s a little dangerous but that energizes, that brings a cleansing, healing rain. No flood here (unless it’s a flash flood, which has a Plutonian nature, of wipeout that leaves nothing behind), as thunderstorms are typically volatile but brief, a discharge of energy that ‘clears the air’–and so this New Moon can be for us.