New Moon in Capricorn
December 30, 2024
3:36 pm AHST, 5:36 pm PST, 8:36 pm EST, 1:36 am GMT (12/31)
The energy of this New Moon is strongly influenced by its relative proximity to the Solstice, at a time when the Sun has paused in the movement of its position on the eastern and western horizons. It’s as if the world is holding its breath at a New Beginning of a lunar cycle that will bring us into the New Year.
Of equal importance, since December 23rd, the dwarf planet Chiron has also been at a pause point, which means it has been hanging, or stopping at 19˚ Aries 00’, in what we call at its station. Just 12 hours before this New Moon, Chiron actually will go direct, having been retro since the end of July.
Chiron was a Centaur who was a healer, an herbalist, and an astrologer, and was also immortal. He was accidently wounded by a poisoned arrow, and could not die from it, but was in great pain, and eventually was turned into a constellation by Zeus to end his pain. He represents the wound that we all come in with as mortals, the wounds that we cannot “fix” but which, when rightly held, inform us and call for balance and humility.
Chiron here is meaningful for two reasons. One, so close to a New Moon, an “awakening” or stationing Chiron colors the New Beginning of a lunar cycle with a call to become aware consciously of our karmic wounds, (both personal and global) and how they keep us entrenched (or entranced) in old patterns of behavior. Realizing and integrating this is the pathway for healing.
Secondly, while Chiron was retrograding through the degrees of Aries since July, it backed over an important and sensitive point: 20˚ of Aries in the natal chart of the United States. This was the US’s Chiron Return which happened on November 5 - 6 — the US ‘s Election Day 2024.
When a Chiron return happens to individuals, about every 50 years, we get to re-evaluate our relationship to that initial imprint, from the standpoint of a hopefully greater maturity. Since the US has had several Chiron returns since 1776, it seems that this particular one is showing us where our national wound still needs healing. Among other things, the ghost of slavery, and of white supremacy still stalks the halls of our national psyche.
The chart of this New Moon includes the ongoing Mars/Pluto opposition, that split between ego and higher self, and nationally, the egoic colonial mentality versus a one whole planet consciousness. This cycle brings us to a place of reconnoitering, exploring for ourselves what our relationship is to the many changes that lie before us in 2025. Where do we need to become stronger, more resilient? And how can we take part in a greater sense of community to share our strengths?
We can see how the square between Saturn (responsibility) and Jupiter retro (which can be arrogance) with Mercury opposing Jupiter and also squaring Saturn (inflated, irresponsible thinking) appears to be prevalent on the world stage, and strongly here in the US. Talk of annexing other countries is Pluto’s dark side, when the ego thinks it’s all-powerful and becomes twisted into megalomania. This is the shadow of having power and authority. Pluto’s way is to expose us to our darkest impulses, not to punish us, but to reinforce to us that we must choose over and over again to enact our best self.
Perhaps what is obvious to some of us must become even more blatant for those who admire the “tell it like it is” qualities of political speech. Unfortunately, damage to institutions, the collapse of people’s jobs and lives are perhaps the collateral for what it takes to have an awakening on many levels. Eventually, somewhere, someone(s) in positions of power will have to stand up and say “no.” This may happen on individual, as well as more global levels. These will be the heroes whose resistance to “following orders” will be vital to the preservation of our humanity.
2025 will have many astrological changes, as all of the slow-moving outer planets will change signs, (Pluto already has) marking important shifts in the zeitgeist. Neptune, while in its last stages of Pisces, will conjoin the North Node (a visioning of our future destiny) in February, a significant event that last happened in 1858. Then it goes into Aries in March, and Saturn will join it in that first degree of Aries in May.
Aries signifies new beginnings, a shifting of priorities, and a kind of agitation that can have various manifestations. Neptune brings vision while Saturn asks to solidify and bring structure to our visioning. The last time Saturn and Neptune were conjoined was 1989, which saw the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Tiananmen Square event in China, and the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, which ended 40 years of communist rule.
Tiananmen Square, China 1989. Courtesy CNN
Remember the energies of these aspects are essentially neutral, (though the Universe is looking for us to evolve, not devolve). Their energies can be co-opted or twisted; we have the free will to use these energies as we see fit. Certainly these new Aries energies that are coming next year bring a spirit of protest, but we also know the event in China ended with a violent crackdown of protesters. However the fall of the Berlin Wall forever changed the face of Germany and Europe.