Though this is considerably more moonlight than we get with a New Moon, this picture seems to capture the spirit of this NM well. ‘Dubrovnik bei Mondlicht’ (Dubrovnik by Moonlight) 1914 By Eduard Kasparides {{PD}}
We have a handful of interesting pair-ups, aside from the New Moon today. Ceres conjoins the North Node point, creating a conscious awareness of how our current power position is forming our future–and perhaps generating some confusion, fear, or delusion, or an insistence on idealism, because of it (Neptune parallel Zeus)–add to this Mercury conjoined Black Moon Lilith, for a touch of paranoid thinking or obsessive anger or worry, and you set the New Moon stage as one where we may be very concerned over what’s to come. Being anxious, even potentially acting or lashing out, almost becomes a given, as that energy must go somewhere, discharge somehow–and that’s how we make a little explosive casing for New Moon events.
The New Moon is 6:17 PM Pacific time at 26 Capricorn 54, conjoined an already separating Venus, but not close enough to be considered conjoined Pluto, over which Sun and Moon have both recently passed. This scenario suggests that the New Moon event is born as a reaction to recent trauma or change and the risk/ reward potentials it has presented. Now, we are thinking, we must stabilize things, figure out the ‘rules’ as they currently stand, set parameters, contain the matter, or choose a shape and structure for developments, trying to control them. What we may not see is that they have already been given a Capricornian shape, and that the New Moon is actually our reaction to that. Difficulty knowing this may be the function of the semi-square of the Moon to Neptune; we’ll almost certainly struggle, to see our own ideals clearly as we grope for a guideline, or just to make it through what will likely feel like an entirely arbitrary fog. Why are we having such a hard time? we may wonder; it’s Neptune, inciting its own kind of uncertainty principle (though the ‘real’ one is Heisenberg’s, that is an apt analogy for this effect, as well).
The New Moon falls at the rough midpoint of a Mars-Chiron trine, suggesting NM events have some origin in or connection to both our own choices/ actions and our wounded nature, perhaps even that the NM event is our effort at finding a balance between the two influences. The NM is also in rough square to both Uranus and Pallas, both in Aries; it may feel like the NM is our reaction to the unpredictability, erratic nature, and/ or wisdom (or lack of it) of others. Our Willful attempt (Cappy NM) to contain or put up barriers or arrest the Will of others (the Aries placements) finds expression in conflict (the square), but doesn’t require open warfare. The trine of the NM to Sedna says we either access instinct, and so respond adeptly to the ‘threat’, or we respond out of the depths of our own ‘blind spot’, setting other, new physical consequences (Sedna in Taurus) in motion.
Caspar David Friedrich ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’ 1817 {{PD}}
The Sabian symbol for the New Moon is, ‘Pilgrims Climbing The Steep Steps Leading To A Mountain Shrine’. This suggests a building of effort, toward eventual attainment, that is very much in tune with Capricorn, as are both the symbol of the mountain and the humble pilgrim. No matter what shape New Moon events take, and no matter what they are in response to, we embody the sincerity of the pilgrim, who acknowledges there is something bigger, ‘more than’, ‘out there’, and that the only way to understand things in this uncertain world is to take steps, one at a time, that lead us to the sacred place (the shrine of the symbol). And that journey, whether we are conscious of the sacred nature of those steps or not, is life, isn’t it?
Hint for personal New Moon interpretation: Look for the configurations; there’s potential for two Fingers of God (base of NM-Chiron or base of NM-Mars, apex a natal body, also Grand Trine with NM and Sedna, third component a natal body). Remember, for a Finger the apex must be quincunx (150 degrees) from each base element, with an orb of no more than two degrees from both base elements. A Grand Trine can be a little looser–give it 3 degrees orb.