Aquarius New Moon | Jan. 21, 2023 | 1°32′ @ 12:53 pm Pacific
Just a few notes before we start talking about the upcoming Aquarius Super New Moon. I am a western tropical astrologer, I use the sacred interpretation method meaning your astrological forecast will always be described in the sense that challenges are opportunities, not a form of punishment.
I use the whole house sign system, meaning your rising sign rules the entirety of your first house and every person has all 12 zodiac energies within them. I use the archetypal energies of the planets, the zodiacs, and history to create something similar to a weather forecast so that you can make plans and validate your emotions based on the kind of energy you are swimming in at this time.
Of course, I can only give generic forecasts without looking at your unique individual chart. If you want a more personalized energy forecast or reading, I offer personalized astrological reports like a PDF, this is the most affordable option available on the elevated aura website, and I have one-on-one virtual readings as well, which you can schedule on the elevated aura website.
Alright without further ado, let’s get into the Super New Moon in Aquarius. And right off the bat, you may have noticed I’m calling this a Super New Moon – meaning it’s not just a new moon, but the new moon will occur when the moon is closer to Earth than normal, so the moon’s pull will be greater, the energy may be more intense.
And when I started to look closer at the aspects, the energy at play here, I do think this will be a potent and powerful New Moon. Meaning those who take the time to use this energy to their advantage may be pleasantly surprised when the Aquarius Super Full Moon occurs this August.
At the time of the Aquarius Super New Moon, both the sun and moon will be at 1°, 32 minutes of Aquarius. This is actually the fourth of five New Moons in a row all happening at 1 degree.
1 degree is ruled by Aries, it’s also a very early degree, which tells us that this is a new energy, we are kicking off something new, possibly building off of the new beginnings from the previous New Moons at 1 degree. And even more powerful, this is the third New Moon of 5 New Moons in a row all happening at 1 degree.
It began with the Solar Eclipse New Moon in Scorpio which was at 1 degree, then we had the New Moon in Sagittarius at 1 degree, the New Moon in Capricorn, and now this Super New Moon in Aquarius is at 1 degree. and the New Moon in Pisces next month will also be at 1 degree.
Given how powerful these energies seem to be for new beginnings, I wanted to flag this for you so that you understand just how fresh and malleable this energy can be. And if you are someone who likes to take time during a new moon and really be intentional about where you are focusing your time and energy, then this energy around the Aquarius New Moon is something to use to our advantage and really co-create our reality with the universe.
What I find so poetic about New Moons at these early degrees like 1 degree is that Aries is the leader of the zodiac, Aries season represents the astrological new year; so although Aries has this tough reputation, this association with being a warrior, it’s also the energy of going out in the dark, of finding something new, taking a new path.
And that actually really compliments the energy of Aquarius quite well because Aquarius is the rebel of the zodiac. Being a rebel can sometimes have a bad connotation, so think of it this way – Aquarian energy tends to be more rebellious because Aquarians are usually thinking about the future, about communities, and when you’re thinking light years ahead, you can sometimes rub people the wrong way especially when you have a vision in mind and you’re not letting anyone get in your way of bringing this vision to fruition.
Aquarius is an air sign, not a water sign, which tricks some people because Aquarius is represented by the symbol of the water bearer, and even the zodiac symbol for Aquarius looks like waves, but alas it’s an air sign. So with an air sign, some people can take this energy as you’re not necessarily being emotionally aware or sensitive, perhaps they feel you rub them the wrong way because the energy of Aquarius can sometimes appear demanding, critical, much more logically based than emotionally intuitive, but again, it’s usually because they are working to bring some sort of social and humanitarian ideal into their reality; the harshness of Aquarian energy is sometimes confusing even for Aquarians themselves because the water bearer energy is an energy that absorbs and collects the energy, the desires, the limiting beliefs of those around them. Almost like an empath, there’s this innate ability to read the energy of the social community and determine what needs to be done, what needs to change, what needs to be released in order to bring more harmony, love, and peace to the planet.
Aquarians tend to be eccentric, spontaneous, and original. And this is not just in how an Aquarian thinks, they tend to dress more eccentrically, wear brighter colors, perhaps pair together patterns or materials that you wouldn’t normally think go together, so sometimes Aquarian energy appears more confident than it really is.
Aquarius is a fixed, air sign, and the natural ruler of the 11th house of community and networking, so many Aquarians can sometimes come off as if they are very logical, scientific in thought, much more logical than they are emotional, but that’s just how they appear. Under the surface, Aquarians are really not that conservative because they are so involved and constantly thinking about others and how to build more communities that work for everyone. So in that sense they are very social justice minded they’re just a little quieter, more reserved sometimes than other signs, including fellow air sign Gemini.
Part of the quiet nature of an Aquarian comes from having such an intuitive, imaginative, innovative world in their minds. These are people who tend to believe that everything will work out if they believe it will, if they get the right social groups together, so they are more inclined to take risks than other signs sometimes – but there has to be an end goal that serves more than just them usually.
Aquarian energy is an air sign, which is masculine energy, yang energy. Aquarius being an air sign really just speaks to Aquarians living in their heads, being curious about what’s around them, dreaming their world into reality, and really being more likely to try and solve disputes rather than taking sides. This is an energy that is really about supporting social contracts and bonds, and although they may appear more logical than emotional, it’s often because they are holding this utopian dream world vision in their minds. And if Aquarians were constantly changing their dream world based on their emotions, adjusting who is good, who is bad, you can see why it would be difficult to bring any sort of community to fruition.
So there’s that fixed energy coming into play. Remember fixed energy is stable, it’s solid, persistent, sustaining, but it’s resistant to change.
So with that, just a reminder if you or someone you love is an Aquarius Rising, Sun, or Moon, give them some grace sometimes when it comes to adjusting what they thought would happen, or if they appear to be critical; it’s usually coming from a very loving place, as well as their intuition. These people tend to be tapped into some kind of empathic frequency at times and are much more interested in world peace than engaging in a debate about which political party or music group is superior.
As I mentioned Aquarius is the natural ruler of the 11th house of community in the zodiac. So things like your greater network, large groups of people, acquaintances, social media, online communities, good luck, friends, these are all 11th house, Aquarian topics.
But of course, not all of us are Aries Risings, so find which house Aquarius rules for you because that is going to give you a little bit different flavoring as to how the Aquarian energy shows up in your life.
For example, I am an Aquarius rising, so right off the bat, based on how I dress, how I walk, how I think, are going to have more Aquarian themes than my husband who is a Scorpio rising and has Aquarius as the ruler of his fourth house of home and family life.
Aquarius is ruled by two planets – two opposing planets in fact – Saturn and Uranus.
Uranus is the planet of freedom and revolutionary vision, it’s an energy that is hungry for change, quantum changes, and encourages us to visualize new possibilities, new ways of being, doing, and relating.
Then we have Saturn. Saturn is the planet of limitation and contraction, it’s an energy that is about discipline, punctuality, and the conservation of material resources.
Think of it this way, Saturn is how it’s always been, Uranus is the future, so there is this clash of which way do we want to move as a community – do we want to be more forward-thinking and inclusive, or do we want to keep the same rules and regulations, top-down power and control framework that is familiar to us?
One of the biggest clashes between Saturn and Uranus occurred around January 2020, and in the last three years, I think it’s fair to say we’ve really experienced a clash between freedom and rules. So expect more clashes between the old and the new, but with slightly different flavoring based on the planets at play.
In astrology there are the Big 6 which are the personal planets that impact your personal world more so than the trans personal or generational planets like Neptune, Uranus and Pluto, that affect us more as a collective rather than individually. Now that’s not to say that these transpersonal planets can’t or won’t impact you on a more personal level, it’s just usually not felt as powerfully or extreme as the personal planets.
The personal planets include your Rising sign, the sun, the moon, Venus, Mercury, and Mars.
During the time of the Aquarius Super New Moon, the Sun & Moon will both be in Aquarius; Remember with any New Moon, the sun and moon will be conjunct, essentially they are located right on top of one another, and that’s why the new moon is a dark moon. However, the sun and moon don’t equally enjoy each sign.
The moon represents our emotions, our internal world, how we express ourselves. It’s our unconscious, how we feel about things. Whereas the sun is our outer world, it’s how we act and appear to those who know us. But with a sign like Aquarius, the sun doesn’t always feel super comfy cozy because Aquarian energy is more fluid, it can change because it’s about dream communities, social contracts, and that can be frustrating when the energy of the sun wants to know exactly what’s going on, but those natally born with their sun in aquarius tend to be hard to predict because they highly value freedom and spontaneity.
At the time of the new moon, Venus is also in Aquarius.
Mars is in Gemini – Mars is operating directly, we’re no longer in a Mars retrograde that ended January 12, 2023, so hopefully for the first time since the end of October 2022, you’re feeling motivated, perhaps more physically energized to tackle projects at work or around the home.
Mercury is in Capricorn- we’re no longer in a mercury retrograde, that technically ended just a few days ago on on January 18, 2023; however, we are still in the post-phase, the two-week shadow time in which we can still experience some communication hiccups, technological glitches as the energy adjusts to Mercury going direct will still be felt up until around February 1st or so
Jupiter is in Aries, Saturn is in Aquarius, Neptune is in Pisces, Uranus is retrograde in Taurus. That retrograde will wrap up shortly after the Aquarius New Moon on January 23, and once Uranus goes direct in Taurus, we will have several weeks with all planets direct – until April 21, 2023, then we’re going to have at least one planet retrograde through the end of the year; and to be honest with you, when I look ahead at late summer/ fall, we’re going to experience 6 retrograde planets simultaneously; we’ll talk about that more as it gets closer, but what I wanted to flag for you now with this energy is to take advantage of it while it’s moving direct.
Last but not least we have Pluto in Capricorn at the time of the New Moon in Aquarius, but Pluto is making its way into Aquarius so Pluto is at the very end degrees of Capricorn – it will be at 28 degrees at the time of the Aquarius New Moon, and because the New Moon in Aquarius is at 1 degree, Pluto and the moon, as well as Pluto and the sun are technically conjunct.
Pluto is a planet in our natal chart that represents our greatest pain and our greatest opportunity for transformation; it’s where we experience big ups and downs, where we shed our skin, grow and evolve, and it’s where we both “born and die” many times over in life.
When the sun is conjunct pluto it’s often an indication that unexpected and significant changes are on the way; this is also an aspect that encourages spiritual study, psychoanalysis, so sometimes we need to use caution to not give our power away out of fear. We may also encounter a lot of authoritative, fatherly type energy but we don’t necessarily have to accept this as our truth or the way forward.
And that brings us to Pluto conjunct the moon. This is an emotionally intense aspect, even though water signs are not at play. When the moon is conjunct pluto we can feel or come across to others as if we or others are being unnecessarily stubborn; this can indicate a time when we don’t want to bend or make compromises – even with loved ones; so it can be a time when it’s very difficult to get along with almost everyone and anyone.
This conjunction between Pluto and the moon may not be great for compromise, it may mean we experience more emotional outbursts or conflicts with loved ones, and we may feel internally this need to make radical changes even if no one around us agrees or understands our desire to make this change.
So there’s a lot of mental agitation, a lot of logical, brain activity, perhaps a lot of churning, longing for something more, something different, something better.
Like the clash between Saturn and Uranus, there’s an energetic clash between Pluto – top down control, power, rules and regulations, and Aquarius freedom, autonomy, the future, and independence.
It’s almost as if we’re replaying the Saturn- Uranus conjunction from early 2020 as well as getting a taste, a hint of what to expect when Pluto moves into Aquarius.
Pluto has been in Capricorn since 2008 and will be moving into Aquarius for a little bit starting March 23, 2023 until June 11, 2023. Then it will retrograde back into Capricorn until January 2024, spend 9 months in Aquarius, retrograde back into Capricorn, and then in January 2024 PLuto will move back into Aquarius until 2044.
Pluto spends 10-20 years in a particular sign and during that time, there is often massive transformation that occurs. For the last 14 years or so, Pluto has been in Capricorn, and during that time we have seen massive changes in anything traditional like the way governments operate throughout the world, there has been pushback, there has been power grabs, really any sort of corporate-structured institution like banks, educational institutions, political organizations, health organizations, a lot of them have undergone massive transformations and changes since 2008.
Going back to this pluto conjunction though, this is truly a new moon where there is likely to be a lot of noise, a lot of fear, a lot of authoritative energy of this is what you must do to get xyz, but Aquarius, Uranus, they don’t want to go back to the status quo. So in order to move forward, we have to find a way to rise above the fear, above the density, and clear our minds, because you can’t manifest from chaos. You have to raise your frequency. So singing, dancing, especially in a community, in a moon circle, this is going to make a huge difference between those who successfully co-create with the universe and those who succumb to fear and density.
Use the Aquarian energy to your advantage here and imagine, create, find a way to allow yourself to rise above the noise when you set your intentions – remember what is no longer is no longer; there’s no sense in spending our energy trying to rebuild what has crumbled; it makes much better use of our energy then to think about the future, how we can grow, what we can create together.
Other notable aspects at play during the time of the Aquarius Super New Moon:
The sun and moon are trining mars – so this is a harmonious aspect that is filled with energy for getting things done, it’s setting objectives and then taking the necessary steps to reach those goals. It’s creatively solving problems as they come up and there’s a hint here of being willing to compromise, which is good, because the conjunction between pluto, the sun and moon doesn’t want us to compromise at all.
The sun and moon are also sextile jupiter which is indicating new experiences, perhaps studying something new, going on a new travel or a new adventure; it’s a very open, optimistic, generous energy; think of going to a party and there is a beyond gracious, welcoming, loving host – that’s what this aspect is bringing to the table.
Then we have venus conjunct saturn – this is not ideal for relationship building because there’s not a lot of love or trust; this is more the energy of like an arranged marriage – it’s faithful energy but not necessarily out of love or desire to be loyal; it’s more like just following the rules; so a bummer for the hopeless romantics like myself, this new moon is not exactly romantic.
And we have mercury square jupiter affecting our communication in a way that may encourage extremist thinking. And Mercury is also trining uranus, which can hopefully soften some of that extremist thinking and communication by adding inspiration, the ability to discover and invent new things, new ideas, new opinions. One thing to note though, mercury trining uranus sometimes encourages friendly debates in order to exchange ideas and opinions with others.
So if you find yourself in a community or conversation talking about the future, or going back to the way things were, it’s the energy of the Aquarius New Moon.
What to expect on a personal level with the Aquarius Super New Moon on January 21, 2023?
Find which house does Aquarius rule for you? That will give you the best indication as to which area of your life is most likely to encounter changes in the next six months.
My suggestion would be to spend some time thinking about what you want to manifest or what kind of changes, blessings, improvements, would you like to see happen specifically in that area of your life 6 months from now?
The Aquarius Super Full Moon will occur on August 1, 2023, so think about the area of your life being illuminated by this Aquarius New Moon. What would you like to see happen in that area of your life by August 2023?
Meditate on it, write it down, and start working toward those goals.
If you are a sun, moon or rising, Aquarius, Leo, Taurus or Scorpio, you are likely to feel the effects of this Aquarius New Moon the most, especially if you have planets or aspects between 26 – 4 degrees of Fixed signs – Aquarius, Leo, Taurus or Scorpio.
Whatever happens externally at this time, know that you are safe. You are loved. You are divinely guided and supported and I love you.
Wishing you a blessed Super New Moon in Aquarius.