“There’s no glory in climbing a mountain if all you want to do is to get to the top. It’s experiencing the climb itself – in all its moments of revelation, heartbreak, and fatigue – that has to be the goal.” – Karyn Kusama
Dear Readers,
Early this morning we had the first New Moon of 2024. The Sun and Moon were together at 20° Capricorn, trine Uranus, square the North and South Nodes, with Mars and Pluto holding down the front and back end of Capricorn.
Typically, the New Moon is a time to set intentions for the moon cycle ahead. It sets the tone for the month, and it’s said that the chart for the first New Moon of the year does so for that year. Given that we’re still at the beginning of the New Year, this would be a great time to think long-term and set intentions, even if you aren’t a New Year’s resolution person. I’m not and yet, at this New Moon, I’ve not only felt called to create a list of intentions for the year, all of which happen to be foundational for the future, but that list made itself. I just had to listen and say yes to writing it down. You too may find an important to-do or to-be list rattling around in your brain waiting to be noticed.
Capricorn is ruled by Saturn—the lord of time and old age, and represented by either a mountain goat or an ancient mythical creature called a sea goat.1 This is a hard-working sign, known for being responsible, mature, focused and patient. Planets in Capricorn tend to be traditional and achievement oriented, interested in building sustainable structures that will endure the test of time. They aim for the mountain top and typically persist until they arrive. They’re aware of social rules and norms and tend to create and follow them. These are not the rule-breakers or those who challenge authority.
But with Uranus trine to the New Moon, we also have some wild card energy in the mix. It’s a smooth flow of energy, lending an idealistic visionary element to the moment, inspiring us to be independent and innovative—to think or act outside the box or outside our comfort zone in what we aim for.
With the New Moon square to the Nodes, we might find ourselves needing to make important decisions to go in one direction or another, one perhaps hauntingly familiar and one out of our comfort zone and daunting in what it asks of us. Owning our power and awareness, we might find that this lunar cycle reveals the hidden beliefs, fears or old unconscious patterns of behavior that hold us back from achieving our goals. But by being willing to look at these and embrace the challenges they bring, we enlist the support offered by both Taurus and Capricorn inherent in this lunation.
January is a month for focusing on foundations and shoring up whatever feels shaky that we depend on in our lives. Given the situation in the USA and in the world, I’m sure you don’t need an astrologer to tell you that the next couple years look intense and chaotic. Astrology confirms this. And like those who set off to climb a mountain, we want to be as prepared as possible to weather whatever weather comes our way. January, however, has fairly calm and helpful astrology that we can take advantage of to prepare and get organized.
Mars in Capricorn is very strong. This is the sign of his exaltation, meaning he’s treated like an honored guest and can be very effective in this sign. Currently, he’s in a sextile with stabilizing Saturn in Pisces and in a strong trine with Jupiter in Taurus—also sextile to Saturn. Both Capricorn and Taurus are Earth signs, concerned with practical, tangible concrete matters. A trine tells us that there’s a smooth flow of energy between the two. Jupiter offers growth, abundance, and opportunity while Mars offers strength, courage, and assertion. The sextiles to Saturn also offer an easy flow of stabilizing energy, similar to the energy of collaboration. Net, net, we’re in a moment where we have strong support, energy and enthusiasm for bringing the ideal visions we intend to build or create to earth and making them real, but this is not a meal ticket. Capricorn is a builder and building usually requires that we do some heavy lifting.
On Saturday January 13, Mercury joins the party in Capricorn where he’ll be for only three weeks. If we remember back to before Mercury’s recent retrograde in early December, we might find a thread that we didn’t have the resources to follow and we may have had to reconsider. Perhaps that idea will come around again, or with new resources we find that we can pick it up now and carry it forward. Mercury refers not only to our communications, travel, and general comings and goings, but to all the functions of our conscious mind, so adding Mercury’s skills to our practical Capricornian intentions is a powerful and important part of achieving our goals.
On January 20, the Sun and Pluto will move into Aquarius within hours of each other. The Sun does this every year to begin Aquarius season, but Pluto only every 248 years. This year, Pluto’s ingress will be illuminated by the Sun where Pluto will stay for about 7 ½ months. Last Spring, he dipped his big toe into the sign of the water bearer, but only from late March until early June. This longer stay, lit up by the Sun at the outset should give us a more solid sense of what this transit might bring before Pluto briefly backtracks into Capricorn one more time next fall. After November 19, 2024, however, we’re in for 20+ years of Pluto’s transformative work in the idealistic, humanitarian, progressive, social and future-oriented sign of Aquarius. The speculations as to what this might involve are endless, but we can be sure that Pluto will bring these topics to the foreground and expose individual and collective toxicity related to Aquarian values and ideals. We will be asked to purge and purify in order to find what is truly authentic, vital and powerful among them. The days around January 20 are ripe for revelation. It would be wise to take note of anything important that happens around this time. If you know your birth chart, the house where you find Aquarius is where the big transformative action is likely to take place in your life over the next 20 years.
If you don’t, and you’d like some help deciphering it, I’m available for private consultations. Last year, I had the great pleasure of meeting some of you face to face over zoom for this purpose. If you’d like to begin 2024 with a better understanding of yourself or what the year ahead might hold, I’d be delighted to serve as your guide to the current astrology and how it relates to you personally. 2024-2026 promise to be big years.
I wish you all a joyful and productive Moon cycle and I’ll be back around to discuss more about Pluto in Aquarius and beyond soon.
All my best,
Cami
The Strange Sea Goat Myth (capricorn). Ocean Info. (2023, May 15). https://oceaninfo.com/exploration/myths-and-legends/sea-goat/