New Moon in Aquarius

This is tonight, the 4th February, at about 9 pm GMT.

The sun, moon and Mercury are conjunct in Aquarius, a sign which is about progressive ideals, group dynamics and lightning cognitive breakthroughs. It's an oddball, brilliant, electrical sign, and this new moon is an oddball, brilliant, electrical new beginning. Time to get out your freak flag and wave it with pride - and connect with your fellow oddballs.

This new moon builds on the theme of last month's lunar eclipse in Leo in that it's all about being true to yourself, expressing yourself, and doing your own thing, regardless of how weird it may look to the collective. Odds are, it won't look so weird at all - these are freaky times, and we are all freaks at heart. You may actually find it easier to connect with others these days on the grounds of your common freakiness.

The new moon has some high-powered backup via beneficial aspects from Mars in Aries and Jupiter in Sagittarius, both planets in their home signs. Mars is also conjunct rebel planet Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius, hence dispositor of the new moon. And Uranus is at the end degrees of Aries, where it's all about being true to yourself.

You put it all together, and it's clear as day: this is a time for breaking free! You'll have physical energy (Mars) and enthusiasm (Jupiter) at your disposal, as well as the mental clarity and emotional detachment of Aquarius.

If you're unable to break free of something that's keeping you stuck at this time, you can blame it on your ego, your stubbornness and your dogged desire to stay stuck. You certainly can't blame it on the sky, because this sky promotes freedom. It wants for you to get unstuck and it will do everything it can to help you out in this.Use it for all it's worth.

New Moon in Sagittarius

This is tomorrow, the 7th December, at about 7.20 am GMT.

It ushers in the holiday season. Sagittarius is a fun, enthusiastic, outward-looking sign. It's ruled by Jupiter, the gas-giant guru of the solar system, who embiggens everything he touches.  Jupiter has just moved into his home sign, so there'll be a heavy emphasis on Sagittarian themes this year: travel, higher education, philosophy and religion, anything that broadens your perspective and fires up your enthusiasm.

So Jupiter in Sagittarius is pretty damn fantastic overall. It's a multinational party vibe (with Shammi Kapoor as Jupiter).

But it can be too much of a good thing. There is a big propensity to go overboard, to leap before you look and get yourself into trouble. It's something to watch out for at this new moon, which is about an exciting, idealistic new beginning which may be completely delusional. Big dreams, but big blind spots as well.

The sun, moon and Jupiter are conjunct in Sagittarius, and that's all very buoyant and fun and enthusiastic. But they're being hit by a square from Mars and Neptune in Pisces, exactly conjunct at the time of this new moon. This is the delusion part. Mars in Pisces can be slippery, underhanded, manipulative, passive-aggressive – a false guru, or lying, cheating, drunk dude who passes himself off as a victim. Conjunct Neptune, the effect is magnified.

It's likely people will be using deception and emotional manipulation to get what they want. Be careful who and what you put your faith in, and hold onto your discernment. People are not always what they seem to be.

Be aware also of your own capacity for self-deception. And as always with Neptune and Pisces, beware of boundary dissolving substances: drink, drugs, religion, fairy-tale romance. You want your bullshit detector to be functioning and unclouded, because there's going to be a lot of bullshit flying around this month.

Mercury is direct again as of the 6th December, and he's in the probing, no bullshit sign of Scorpio, which should help you to see through the smokescreen. He's also part of a grand water trine involving the north node in Cancer and Chiron in Pisces.  Chiron, the wounded healer asteroid, will station direct on the 8th December - so the new moon is bookended by Mercury and Chiron both stationing direct.

It's very significant that they end their retrogrades in exact aspect to each other and as part of this beautiful grand water trine, which is about deep insight into old emotional wounds, especially ones involving family and upbringing. It's cathartic and healing, and I think it's nice to have this as we head into a month that is all about dealing with your crazy family.

It's also nice that we have a bunch of slower-moving planets in the signs they rule: Jupiter in Sagittarius, Saturn in Capricorn, and Neptune in Pisces. This is not a common situation. It should help us to feel more stable and grounded in ourselves.

So however much bullshit you encounter, there's a lot of deep solidity and realism to draw upon as well. The trick is knowing which is which. I think you'll know the false because it will be cloaked in overblown emotion and appeals to sentimentality. The truth will be quieter and darker, but you'll know it in your bones.

We'll have a full moon in Cancer on the 22nd December, just at the winter solstice. It doesn't look terrible, but it doesn't look stress-free either. But when are the holidays ever stress-free? If you stay off the sauce and away from political discussions, it might just be fun. I'll write more about it closer to the time.

Full moon in Gemini

This is exact at about 5:40 am GMT tomorrow morning, the 23rd November.

It's Jupiter's grand entrance into Sagittarius, just in time for Thanksgiving – he changed signs from Scorpio to Sagittarius just after the new moon two weeks ago, and this is his first lunation in Sagittarius since 2007. He spends roughly a year in each sign and will be in Sagittarius till December of next year.

Jupiter rules Sagittarius so this is a happy place for him to be! It's a real party vibe. Jupiter's about what brings us luck, so for the next year, there'll be great luck and benefit in doing Sagittarian things - i.e. expanding your perspective, via the open road and an open mind. This can mean travel, higher education, exotic philosophies or religions, new experiences. Exciting opportunities will be popping up.

So it's mostly great! However, Jupiter inflates everything he's associated with, and this can lead to too much of a good thing, especially in the sign he rules. Sagittarius can easily go overboard in its enthusiams, and become pompous and ideological. It can also be quite callous about peoples' feelings and sensitivities, mistaking impulsive, opinionated blurting for candour.

We'll be seeing all these over-the-top Sagittarian propensities at this full moon, which frankly looks like a head-melting scenario. We'll have a mutable t-square between the moon in Gemini, the sun, Jupiter and Mercury in Sagittarius, and Mars in Pisces. Optimistic and bouyant as Jupiter in Sagittarius is, his involvement here serves to magnify the stress.

A mutable t-square is a chaotic, neuron frazzling aspect, so things are going to feel jangled and all-over-the-place. This particular mutable t-square involves Gemini (information, communication) and Sagittarius (story / ideology / perspective) – so it's a conflict between different versions of reality. It looks confusing – reality, delusion, truth and falshood will be all tangled up, and it's going to be hard to know whose version of reality is true. There will be plenty of outright lying going on, as well as a lot of emotional manipulation.

The emotional manipulation part is courtesy of Mars in Pisces. Mars is about desire and aggression, and he doesn't work well in Pisces, which is about boundary loss and the unconscious. Mars in Pisces can be a spiritual warrior, but more often he's just passive-aggressive, slippery and manipulative. He's like a charismatic drunk who tells you his sob stories in order to seduce you and who ultimately wants you to “save” him – not a solid dude.

And Mars is squaring Jupiter, which is about going overboard and getting yourself into trouble via heedless enthusiasm. You put it all together and this full moon is a bit of an overboard headfuck. Don't believe everything you hear, because people will be spouting off some ludicrous stuff, and they may have conscious or unconscious manipulative agendas. Appeals to compassion and sentimentality are particularly suspect at this time. It's a good idea to stay critical and skeptical if someone is trotting out a “poor me” story. Ask yourself "What are they trying to sell me?"

Also "what am I heedlessly buying?" Be skeptical about your own opinions, unless your facts and reasoning are bulletproof (which is always hard to guarantee). The risk of self-delusion is very high these days. So often we believe what makes us feel good or what we have an emotional attachment to. We cherrypick facts to support our beliefs. We construct versions of the past to back up our personal narratives, disregarding everything that doesn't fit. It's unconscious dishonesty, we all do it in one way or another and it'll be more prevalent than usual about now.

Fortunately, Mercury (ruler of Gemini and dispositer of the full moon) is currently retrograde. Usually Mercury retrograde is a pain in the ass, causing difficulties with travel and communication, and now is no exception! But I still say it's fortunate here because Mercury retrograde allows us some space from jumping to erroneous conclusions or spouting off our ill-considered opinions. You can use it to rein in your communication and examine the information you're given. I think a bit of communication blockage can be helpful when there's this much pressure to jump the gun.

We'll be dealing with this nerve-frazzling, confusing, overboard, poor impulse-control stuff for the next month and a half. That means it colors the holiday season, never the most stress-free period at the best of times. I think the holidays this year look tough and the risk of over-the-top drama when you're hanging out with your crazy family is particularly high this year.

We have a lot of Neptune/Pisces stuff going on, with Neptune stationing direct the day after the full moon and Mars moving to conjunct Neptune in Pisces on the day of the new moon in Sagittarius (7th December). Meaning it'll be easy to slip into delusion, addiction and self-pity. Good boundaries are key – you'll have to keep a hold of all your discernment if you want to navigate this time without getting enraged or turning into a blubbering wreck at the holiday table.

Avoiding boundary-dissolving substances (drugs, alcohol) can't hurt, especially when you're in stressful situations. I know it sounds like no fun, but they can only make things feel worse at this time.

We'll also have some relationship turbulence as Venus opposes Uranus on the 1st December, just before moving from Libra into Scorpio. This is her third and final jolt from Uranus since September, and it makes for crazy on-again-off-again dynamics, instability and a lot of stress in relationships. But after Venus enters Scorpio on the 2nd December, we are headed for smoother sailing. Dynamics have been balanced and rebalanced and now they're either revolutionized or done. Either way, Venus is moving on.

New Moon in Scorpio

This is today, around 4 pm GMT.

It's beautiful. About as deep, shadowy, magical and transformative as a new moon in Scorpio can get. And it should feel like an abrupt tonal shift. We will not be the same coming out of this week as we were going into it.

Scorpio is about depth psychology, death and rebirth, and all-or-nothing emotional scenarios: either you're entirely done with something or you're all in. Maybe both at the same time here! One door shuts, another opens and your life is transformed, your self is transformed.

In this case we have the sun and moon in mid-Scorpio beneficially aspecting Neptune (compassion, spirituality, dreams) and Scorpio's ruler Pluto (power, intensity, transformation). So it's pretty mystical.

We also have a lot of planets changing signs at this time, and this is the abrupt tonal shift part. It's a weird situation!

Uranus retrograded back into Aries yesterday, where he will spend a final five months before re-entering Taurus for the next eight years. Uranus is the liberator, Aries is the sign of the self, and Uranus in Aries has been about revolutionary change to our basic sense of identity, often technologically mediated. We've seen the rapid spread of smartphones, social media and identity politics since Uranus first moved into Aries in 2010. As Aries is the sign of aggression and war, there has been a lot of collective rage associated with this transit, and we've seen the rise of populist movements all over the world.

Uranus moved from Aries into Taurus in May this year, and Uranus in Taurus is a bit less personal. It's about radical shakeups to the solid structures of our lives - the things we rely on for stability and security - like the money system, the political status quo, the climate, our "traditional" values, etc. The ground under our feet is shifting, Since May, things will have been shaken up in a revolutionary (and perhaps unpleasant) way for you in some area of your life. But now, as Uranus retrogrades back into Aries, we're getting a chance to integrate outer changes into our self-concepts.

Again, though, this is Aries, and there may be a lot of anger associated with this transit. Someone might have done you pretty damn wrong, and that stuff hurts. However, Aries's ruling planet, Mars is currently in Aquarius, the sign Uranus rules. This is called a mutual reception, and it means this energy of outrage and the drive for liberation can work very well together at this time. It's great for collective action and also for breaking free of your old self-concepts or other people's ideas of who you should be.

Another big shift: the north node has just changed signs as of yesterday: from Leo, where it has spent the past year and a half, into Cancer. The north node is about the "direction" of the sky-story - the path forward. With the north node in Leo, we were meant to focus on our individual self-expression, joy, romance, creativity, bling and fabulousness. But in Cancer it's all about emotions, roots, home, family, nurturance. It's a far humbler, more introspective path, concerned with the domestic sphere and the inner world. Traditionally it's associated with women and motherhood. So abruptly, we're over going out into the world to claim our spotlight. The way forward for the next year and a half is to stay home in our fuzzy slippers and cook pasta dinners. (Except that the the north node in Cancer is disposited by the moon, and the moon shifts signs every 2.5 days - aaargh, so it's a bit more complicated than that. But you can't go too far wrong with fuzzy slippers and comfort food and phoning your Ma.)

Finally, Jupiter is at the final degree of Scorpio for this Scorpio new moon, his grand finale in a sign where he's spent the past year. Jupiter is about expansion, and in Scorpio, the sign of depth and the Shadow, he's a giant muckraker, bringing hidden ugliness and corruption to light. Jupiter is also about what brings us luck, and this obsessive digging up of old dirt has been necessary and collectively transformative over the past year - the entrance of Jupiter into Scorpio last year coincided nearly exactly with the viral expansion of MeToo. (As this is Scorpio, reactions to it have been extreme and polarised.)

The chart of a new moon determines conditions for the month ahead, and as Jupiter is still in Scorpio for the new moon, we are still called upon to do this depth work into December. But tomorrow, he moves from Scorpio into the sign he rules, Sagittarius. And Jupiter in Sagittarius is a whole different vibe: free-wheeling, happy-go-lucky, the life of the party. It's like coming out of a dark, airless little room filled with psychodrama and intensity, into sunlight and open space. The scenarios couldn't be more different.

So all in all, this new moon heralds a very rapid and sweeping emotional phase-change - or a bunch of them, and how they'll fit together remains to be seen. It carries the potential for a profound psychological shift, individually and in the collective. Things that didn't seem possible will come to seem possible, very suddenly.

Other events this month:

Mars also changes signs on the 15th November (so many sign-shifts this month!!) He'll move from Aquarius to Pisces, where he doesn't function so well. Don't be surprised if your energy suddenly feels a bit underwater from then till the New Year, and beware of drink and drugs. (This is not great timing for the holiday season, I know.)

Venus will resume direct motion on the 16th November. She's currently in Libra, where she seeks harmony in relationships - but she's tangled up in an opposition to Uranus, which makes for turbulence and on-again-off-again dynamics. These dramatics will continue into mid-December.

The next day, the 17th November, we'll have Mercury stationing retrograde in Sagittarius. The retrograde will take him into the late degrees of Scorpio and will last till the 6th December. The usual Mercury retrograde cautions re. signing documents and communication and travel difficulties apply. Also, be careful what you say at this time, especially when under the influence - it may come back to haunt you.

We'll have a full moon in Gemini on the 23rd November and it involves issues of information, truth, falsity and delusion. Kinda jangled-up. Then Neptune resumes direct motion on the 24th November, which can be a bit of a WTF scenario.

Basically, there are just so many shifts this month it's hard to keep track of what's going on, or to know how things'll pan out. I guess we'll see! It should be interesting. But this new moon can be like a pause where you connect with some deeper truth in yourself and commit wholeheartedly to your path (after getting rid of what is no longer viable for you). No matter how whiplash-strange things get this month, you can rely on this inner truth and sense of guidance. You know deep down what's really important for you and where you want to be going.