The Shaky Courage of the Capricorn New Moon

The New Moon that comes along mid-day on Friday provides a generous helping of get-up-and-go for forging ahead with our lives at this turning point of the new year, and also brings up both past and future considerations. The Roman God Janus - for which the present month is named - presided over transitions and openings, and had two faces, one looking forward with anticipation; and one, representing a more conservative mode, looking backward. This emblem describes the energy of this New Moon very well. We are now over these next few months entering into the era of Saturn-Uranus-Pluto, a subset of the Uranus-Pluto square aspect that characterizes the entire year of 2013 and several more beyond it. This is a time when it must be recognized that the urge to move forward will be balanced by the equally strong urge to pull back from change.

Of course at this important societal juncture we are ready, more than ready, to get on with this new year with new lives that more fully embrace the sense of massive change that is implicit in our situation. Or are we really? That is what the Saturnian and the Uranian joint focus is all about. It is echoed in the signs of January that are ruled by each, namely both Capricorn and Aquarius, and also in the structure of this Capricorn New Moon configuration. The Moon parallels Mars in Aquarius, while Saturn strongly sextiles Pluto, just as Saturn also makes a very close bi-quintile aspect to Uranus. Venus, newly entered into Saturn's sign of Capricorn, squares Uranus.

These two highlighted planetary archetypes, Saturn and Uranus, are basically antithetical to each other. Uranus represents revolutionary change and more change, alteration for the sake of alteration, while Saturn wants to hold back, based on the fear of change. It is possible to blend these approaches, but it is not easy. The benefits of each are manifest. We need to exercise practicality and caution as we move ahead, that much is evident. The grounding influence of Saturn is our best teacher. And yet with an excess of Saturn's holding back, we remain stuck. Life needs to breathe, and to change, in order not to die on the vine. Life in fact is change itself.

The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon, the 22nd degree of Capricorn, is instructive. It is: A general accepting defeat gracefully; and Marc Edmond Jones writes that "the human will develops its real power... through a self-disciplined grace of Spirit." His keyword is "Expediency" or "a genius for learning from experience and for turning setbacks into accomplishment." We could meditate on this notion as we go though the changes and challenges of the strong opening to a potent new year. We may well have to give up egoic considerations and even our fear, in favor of a higher calling. Sometimes the best way to move ahead is through surrender.

The Shaky Courage of the Capricorn New Moon

What is in store for you in the next few months?

Chart for the New Moon on January 11, 2013

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