The New Year arrives with a bang. The bang of a gavel. The New Moon, happening at 15 degrees of Capricorn, is not your normal New Moon. It is a partial Solar Eclipse, making its powers even that much more palpable, it's potential that much more potent. It is said that the during eclipses, the veil between our physical world and the immaterial world beyond our five senses becomes thinner, making your communication and communion with the powers that be far more influential. And with five planets stacked in Capricorn during this lunation, powers that be need not only apply to deities or spiritual superheroes, but also the powers that take hold in your own life. Capricorn gives structure and reason to power, stacking it up into hierarchies and building it into institutions. On a macro level, these entities become the law and order we contend with on a daily basis. But on a micro level, this New Moon is asking you to take a look at the institutions and hierarchies of your own life. You have far more, ahem, power, to shift and change the structures of your own experience, building or demolishing them in ways that can serve your long-term goals. Much is said of the Capricorn bend towards money and status, making our name in the world out there. But what about your inner worlds? What of enriching and making solid the foundations of our private lives, so that they remain strong and steadfast no matter what changeability the world offers? It is our commitment to bolstering our own worth that makes for a richer life experience, one not measured by numbers or decimals. And you’ll be happy to know that in a world defined by material success, an inner state of abundance is the fastest track towards outward abundance. As within, so without. So as the goat steadies his or her way up the mountain, travailing narrow cliffs and enduring weather, think about the mountains of your own life—the ones worth climbing, the ones worth abandoning, the molehills masquerading as Mt. Everest. Eclipses open up portals of influence that can last up to six months. Not to mention that we are in for another year and a half of Capricorn-Cancer eclipses. It is what happens now that can truly build the direction of the life you want to experience. So make sure that the powers that be have the power to become.
Who is present in the courtroom? The Sun and Moon are conjuncted by Saturn (11 degrees of Capricorn) and Pluto (20 degrees of Capricorn) on either side. What an interrogation. The two cosmic cops make their presence known here, and in Capricorn they easily have the power to subvert the routines of your physical experience. Saturn has been in Capricorn for about a year now, where he feels home. And Pluto has been there for roughly 11 years. Safe to say the implications of these planets in Capricorn are firmly ensconced in your psyche by now, but the co-presence of the Sun and Moon, during an eclipse no less, will shove the consequences of these planets back into your awareness. Saturn and Pluto have the CCTV footage, and will be asking you where you were the night of. Don’t lie. Rigorous honesty when these two are around. If your alibi checks out, your rap sheet is clear, then Pluto and Saturn mean no harm and work in harmony, one with a wrecking ball and the other with the blueprints. Keep building and eliminating in the direction of your dreams. Though if you find yourself faltering, sweaty palms, unsure of your own responsibility to your life, Saturn and Pluto will demand that you get it together. And you might as well start to here, less you continue to come up short eclipse after eclipse, ultimately finding yourself in shackles of your own making. Capricorn bricks build empires—or prisons. I in no way mean to overemphasize the fear these planets instill in people, nor to make you afraid of what is to come. I firmly believe that Saturn and Pluto are productive influences, their destruction and restriction ultimately serving positive purpose. But like driving in front of a police officer, these planets inspire a nervousness that compel us to act correctly, and not necessarily in accordance with what the world deems as correct, but in accordance with the laws and truths of our own lives. It is a call for authenticity. It is a two-way mirror—Saturn and Pluto can see you, but you can only see yourself. And so you must confront the ways you are unjust to yourself, the ways you allow criminals to run amok in your life, be it through behaviors, relationships, or patterns you know are detrimental to your highest good. Arrest them, bring them in for questioning, know where to be good cop and where to be bad cop. Do this until you are the judge, jury and executioner. Because only then do you have full authority over your life.
During this eclipse, Mercury will have newly ingressed into Capricorn, sitting soberly at 1 degree, out from the roaring party of Sagittarius where mental faculties may have been jeopardized. Mercury in Capricorn is the court reporter, catching every detail with stunning speed and ease, compartmentalizing facts and statements into their proper place. Though not in conjunction with this lunation, the doubling down of Capricorn energy matters all the same. Mercury will help you keep your facts straight and collect the evidence needed to move forward. Be careful with your words and thoughts here, as Saturn-ruled communication can be needlessly sharp and pessimistic. In fact, you may find your impulse to communicate dampened, or turned inward during this time. In any event, Mercury in Capricorn comes equipped with the transcript, and can pull out the receipts. Having mental processes in step with the conscious will (Sun) and emotional reactions (Moon) of the time can fuse the importance of this lunation into your awareness even more, making it easier to problem-solve or cash in on street smarts.
Mars will be squaring Mercury from 3 degrees of Aries. Mars loves being in Aries, so this is a time where energy and enthusiasm can be kicked up a notch. But in a tense conversation with Mercury, and in cardinal signs, Mars can be the silver bullet that either cracks the case or the friendly fire that compromises it. Be careful where you shoot. Mars and Saturn (ruler of Mercury here) are a contentious pair, with one assertive and the other conservative. With Mercury at issue: don’t say things that don’t need saying, don’t do things that don’t need doing, and don’t believe things that don’t need believing. Mars in Aries can easily become caricatured, a homecoming that self-aggrandizes. With Saturn as the ruler of this lunation, this eclipse, you must temper yourself. Positively, Mars provides the kick in the ass you may need to start getting your affairs in order, or the enthusiasm needed to make changes. Mars will also be forming a five degree out-of-sign trine with Venus, who is approaching a critical last degree in Scorpio. Not tremendously powerful, so don’t look for Venus’s grace to save you. At best, this a good time for finally wrapping up all your Venus RX drama, and letting Mars strong-arm it into surrender so that it no longer bothers you. Venus has long since passed over her shadow degree. But as long as she is still in Scorpio, hitting powerful anaretic degrees that awaken all that was dealt with during her stay in Mars’ sign, prickles of retrograde themes can still arise. But be glad it is just a prickle now, and not the sledgehammer it was before.
And what of the other benefic, Jupiter? Can some levity finally be inserted here? Dicey. Jupiter in Sagittarius will be squaring Neptune in Pisces with a 2 degree orb, and will be doing this dance for much of 2019. This combination is like a cosmic siren song—Jupiter will be pulled into the glamour of Neptune, hypnotized, and unable to act for us in tangibly productive ways unless fought for. Of course with Jupiter around, nothing can be all bad, and this square does connote some spiritual higher ground and creativity that makes a nice foil to the Earthbound work of Capricorn. Neptune is sextiling this New Moon, providing access to scope, compassion and softness. But Jupiter to Neptune aspects also provide fertile ground for growing absurd beliefs, escapism, disillusionment, zealotry, and garden-variety huh. The witness on the stand that rambles and cannot remember any detail with clarity or objectivity. This is where Saturn, and Capricorn in general, can be an asset. That’s right, look to Saturn to save you from flights of fancy, as he provides the landing into a fact-based reality.
Really, there is nothing juicy or wonderful or WOW about this partial solar eclipse. Nothing along the lines of the warmth our Sagittarius season and Jupiter-ruled lunations brought. Saturn may feel like a cold shower—a shock, but ultimately something that can revive and reset your system. This eclipse is positive in other ways—the ways that ask us to take inventory of our lives, so that they may grow into things that function well for us and for society as a whole. As the next series of eclipses illuminate the Capricorn-Cancer axis of your chart, you’ll find the hard and dirty work of tending to your plot, your weeds and seeds in Capricorn, is what becomes watered, nourished and blossomed in Cancer. So now more than ever, plant, plan, and proceed with intention, and with the full authenticity of your soul.